Fireworks sparked six fires and caused nearly $1 million in damage in unincorporated Clark County for the Fourth of July holiday, according to fire investigators.
Interim Clark County Fire Marshal Max Booth said the agency responded to one fire Monday, four fires Tuesday and two fires in the early morning hours Wednesday. The fire Monday was a grass fire, and the cause is undetermined, Booth said in an email.
One of the fires early Wednesday destroyed the Kesler family’s house in the 22000 block of Northeast WH Garner Road near Yacolt. Ashley Kesler said she woke up to their fire alarm going off at about 1 a.m. and smelled smoke.
She could see her car on fire in the driveway, and she could feel its heat from inside the house and grabbed her three kids and rushed into the backyard. There, she said they watched the fire spread to the house and listened to noises of pops from her car and her husband’s truck on fire.
The family made it out safe, but their five kittens and a mother cat died in the fire, she said. Her husband was able to get their dog out safely, but she said he and their son had to be treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation.
Kesler said they went back to the house Wednesday to see what remained of the dream house they’d purchased two years before and found a total loss. She said the fire destroyed her kids’ dirt bikes and guitars, her husband’s work tools and countless other belongings. She said they watched their house burn for hours and do not know where they’ll stay now.
“I can’t believe we made it out,” she said after looking at the remnants. “Everything about this is terrible.”
Booth said the fire is still under investigation, but the agency believes fireworks were involved in the blaze. People can donate to a gofundme for the Kesler family at gofund.me/8a0250c9.
The county was under a Red Flag warning until 11 p.m. Wednesday. Temperatures peaked at 94 degrees Tuesday and 97 degrees Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Portland. Booth said he’s always worried about fireworks during warm, dry weather, and Tuesday was a typical, busy Fourth of July holiday for fire investigators.
Fire agencies remained busy responding to calls throughout the night. Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency dispatchers took reports of 136 outside fires, including grass or brush fires and bark dust fires.
Fifteen structure fires and one commercial fire were also reported Tuesday or the early morning hours Wednesday, according to emergency dispatch logs.
Fireworks continued to be banned in the city of Vancouver. But Booth said data from the Washington Department of Natural Resources did not show conditions were hot or dry enough for a long enough period of time for county officials to consider a fireworks ban.
The dispatch agency also received 166 fireworks complaints Tuesday or Wednesday morning, dispatch logs show.
Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said her office would continue to patrol the city for people violating the fireworks ban Wednesday night. She said her report about illegal fireworks usage and fire investigations would not be available until later in the week.
