A woman died Thursday morning in a house fire in Orchards after fire crews found her in a bedroom and were unable to revive her.
The Vancouver Fire Department responded around 6:30 a.m. to 15513 N.E. 99th St., and found flames coming out of the front of the house, according to department spokesman Joe Hudson. Responding crews could see a large plume of smoke from miles away.
Two adults had escaped the house and pointed firefighters toward the living room, saying a woman was still inside, Hudson said.
Firefighters went inside to look for the woman but couldn’t find her, according to Hudson. Once crews extinguished the fire and began ventilating the house, they found the woman in a back bedroom.
Firefighters brought the woman to an ambulance, and EMS personnel began CPR and treated her for carbon monoxide poisoning. However, revival efforts were unsuccessful and she died, Hudson said.
Crews extinguished the fire within five minutes but stayed at the house for hours, according to a fire department press release. No one else was injured.
The Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.
The Red Cross is helping the residents who were displaced. Hudson described the damage to the house as significant.
While fighting this blaze, the fire department was called out to another house fire in the nearby Burnt Bridge Creek neighborhood, along with two cardiac arrests.
The small fire reported around 8 a.m. at 4912 N.E. 142nd Ave., was started by contractors working on the house, according to Hudson. It was extinguished before firefighters arrived.
The Vancouver Fire Department reminds people of the importance of smoke and
