Flames erupt from the roof of a Fruit Valley home Thursday as firefighters work. The home, owned by Ed and Kathy Timmins, was heavily damaged, but no one was reported injured.
When Ed Timmins realized his home was on fire Thursday afternoon, he alerted his son, Tysen Timmins, 24, who was in the basement taking a shower.
“My dad ran down the stairs yelling ‘Get out of the house!’” the son said later, as firefighters worked to douse the fire at 3605 Thompson Ave., in Vancouver’s Fruit Valley area. “I wrapped a towel around my waist and ran upstairs.”
Seeing flames on the back porch, Tysen Timmins started grabbing his father’s prized hunting mounts, heads of elk and deer and stuffed bodies of a raccoon and a standing bear cub, and took them out to the front yard.
They also managed to rescue most of their pets, some dogs and a bird named Shadow.
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“I got all the animals out except my cat,” Ed Timmins said. “I couldn’t catch it.”
When Ed Timmins tried to go back inside the burning home for the cat, a Vancouver police officer stopped him for his own safety, said Capt. Kevin Murray with the Vancouver Fire Department.
Firefighters had been in the area checking out a natural gas leak a few blocks away when they were called to the Timmins home just west of the BNSF Railway tracks, Murray said.
Neighbor Marlene Dodge said she’d been outside and first noticed darkness caused by heavy black smoke that was rising from the back of the Timmins home.
The column of smoke was visible from miles away.
“I heard Ed yelling and neighbors were coming and everyone was calling 911,” she said.
Suddenly, the house was engulfed in flames, she said.
“It just seemed to go up so fast,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘This can’t be happening.’”
When the fire was reported at 6:05 p.m., the first crews that had been at the gas leak arrived quickly, in four or five minutes, Murray said. At first, they streamed water onto the flames from outside; later they dragged their hoses and heavy tools inside the blackened home.
Firefighters also sawed a large hole in the roof, releasing flames and heat, as others inside below them sent their water up into the attic.
In the end, the ground floor of the house was gutted inside, Murray said; it wasn’t known how badly the basement was damaged.
About 15 firefighters had worked on the fire. Fire District 6 also helped with the blaze.
Except for the pets, taxidermy trophies and some other salvaged belongings, “Everything’s gone,” Ed Timmins said.
Neighbors came to see the fire, and many helped and offered to help the family.
The first to arrive found some clothing for Tysen Timmins to wear.
Seeing Shadow shivering in its cage outside on a sidewalk, Dodge and neighbor Miguel Galeas, 13, found a plastic rescue blanket and an old sheet to cover the cage, protecting the bird from the chilly wind.
“We’ve got to get the bird inside,” Ed Timmins said later, and they took the cage into Dodge’s home.
Shadow is about 13 years old, the family said.
Neighbors also took care of the dogs and the cat, which managed to escape the home with singed fur, and was expected to survive.
The cause and dollar damage estimate weren’t available Thursday night.
The damaged house is in an area of compact, older homes that are nicely maintained.
