Baby critically injured in Monroe fire

Published 12:59 pm Monday, May 18, 2009

MONROE – Fire investigators and major crime detectives are trying to determine what sparked a morning blaze that has an infant struggling for her life.

The baby girl was listed in critical condition and was being treated in an intensive care unit, Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said.

The blaze was reported by a neighbor just before 9 a.m. in the 17100 block of Tester Road, Monroe Fire District 3 spokeswoman Richelle Risdon said.

Before help could arrive, people in the house took a baby girl to Valley General Hospital. She later was rushed to Harborview, the region’s trauma center.

Investigators were treating the fire as if a fatality were a possibility, Risdon said.

The Snohomish County Fire Marshal’s office and Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives strung up yellow crime tape around the light brown house just south of Monroe High School.

It was too early to tell what started the fire, Risdon said.

Snohomish County Red Cross responded to the scene. About five people live in the house and likely will be displaced by the blaze.