UPDATE: Fast action limits fire at adult foster home

Quick thinking helped limit damage Tuesday when fire broke out on the deck behind an adult foster home near Pacific Middle School, according to the Vancouver Fire Department.

The fire was reported at 10:46 a.m. at Hope Care Adult Foster Home, 17702 N.E. 31st St., said Capt. Dave James.

A caretaker evacuated five residents from the home while another man used a garden hose to attack the blaze before firefighters arrived. The man suffered from smoke inhalation but refused treatment. American Medical Response personnel said the man, who was presumably a neighbor, walked away from the scene after the fire. His name was not available.

Firefighters arrived and put a fan in the door to ventilate smoke. They also cut siding off the rear of the home to make sure fire hadn’t spread inside the walls, James said.

James said that the fire likely would have spread to neighboring homes and a greenway behind the house had the man not immediately attacked the flames with the hose. Access to the greenway was limited and would have made the firefighting effort difficult, he said.

Clark County Deputy Fire Marshal Richard Martin said the fire caused an estimated $15,000 in damage. There was extensive damage to the back deck and a back wall, and some heat damage to a window, VFD spokesman James said.

Although the entire home was damaged by smoke, residents weren’t displaced by the fire, James said.

County property records indicate the house is owned by Vladimir and Nadezhda Zosim.