Basement fire fills Betts Road home with smoke

Smoke filled a home on Betts Road in the Pleasant Valley area on Monday afternoon, apparently after soiled rags used for a staining project started a fire.

Clark County Fire District 6 Battalion Chief Todd Iremonger said a full fire marshal’s investigation still needs to be done, but firefighters on scene said it appeared the stain-soiled rags, which were placed on a chair, spontaneously ignited.

District 6 and Vancouver Fire Department firefighters received a report of a fire at 13504 N.E. Betts Road around 5:05 p.m. Iremonger said firefighters found the fire burning in the home’s basement.

Iremonger said no one was hurt. The fire was confined to the chair, he said, and most of the damage will likely be from smoke.

“Apparently, they were doing some kind of remodeling,” he said. The chair “was all that was really burning. It filled the house up with smoke.”

Clark County property records list Annette and Tucker Johnson as the home’s owners.