The Vancouver Fire Department was called to three reports of structure fires in an hour Saturday, two of which were the result of heating units turned on to combat cold weather.
A fire in a chimney spread to an exterior wall at home at 2708 N.E. 58th St. at 2:41 p.m. There was no smoke in the house but three crews, two from Vancouver Fire Department and another from Clark County Fire District 6, had to pull apart some of the siding to put out the fire.
“It was labor intensive,” said Vancouver Fire Capt. Kevin Murray of the effort to make sure the fire wasn’t smoldering in some unseen part of the structure.
The home was briefly evacuated.
All three fires occurred between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Firefighters were first dispatched to Covington Commons, 9703 N.E. Covington Road, where a fire started by food burning on a stove extended into a nearby crawl space. Flames were visible from outside through a vent.