Man narrowly escapes burning home near Washougal

A man who was sleeping alone inside a house located north of Washougal that caught fire Tuesday morning narrowly escaped, a fire official said.

“We were told by friends and family members he may have suffered a second-degree burn on his arm and may have singed his hair,” said East County Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Koehler. “We came really close to having a fatality.”

Several witnesses saw flames and called 911 to report the fire. Firefighters said they saw a large column of smoke from nearly a mile away.

Koehler said the man left the scene before firefighters responded to the home at 233 N.E. Blair Rd. at 9:46 a.m., reaching it five minutes after the blaze was reported. The man did not return as firefighters worked.

Koehler said he did not know the man’s name, age or have an update on his condition.

Koehler said it’s unclear if the home had working smoke detectors or what may have led to the man’s escape.

“We just know that he got out reportedly at the last second,” Koehler said. “We’re just really glad he did.”

A neighbor reported the fire at 9:41 a.m., Koehler said. When firefighters arrived, it was “heavily engulfed,” Koehler said. “There wasn’t much we could do.”

The gameplan, then, was to keep the fire isolated to the home so that it wouldn’t spread to another home and two outbuildings nearby.

An absence of fire hydrants on the rural road made battling the flames difficult.

Koehler said three water tenders, small trucks with tanks, rotated through the area, leaving the scene to refill with water in shifts.

Crews from East County and the Washougal Fire Department had the blaze out at about 12:30 p.m. A total of 22 firefighters and support personnel worked at the scene using 10 trucks of various kinds.

Neighbors said the home was undergoing a significant remodel. The home, which wasn’t insured, was destroyed.

Damage was estimated at $245,000 and the cause hadn’t been determined Tuesday evening, said Clark County Deputy Fire Marshal Susan Anderson.

The home is owned by Lloyd and Doris Combs, according to county property records.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Washougal Police Department helped control traffic around the home, which is located on a blind corner, Koehler said. Blair Road connects Washougal River Road to 267th Avenue, near Grove Field Airport.

If the home didn’t have a working smoke detector, it should have, because they and quick escape plans save lives, Koehler said.

John Branton contributed to this story.