LAKE STEVENS — The neighborhood tried to do fireworks safely.
Everyone used the legal kind and collected the refuse in a wheelbarrow filled with water.
And someone made sure the leftover litter got picked up by the end of the July 4 revelry.
But all the fireworks weren’t adequately doused. They caught fire in a trash can, and the flames spread to five nearby properties, causing $792,126 in damage.
The fire on 17th Street NE, just northwest of the lake, was ruled an accident, according to public records obtained by The Daily Herald.
Still, it’s a reminder of the dangers of fireworks, Lake Stevens Fire Chief Kevin O’Brien said in a recent interview.
“It’s not just property damage. It’s health hazards,” he said. “With fireworks, the risks to your health, safety and your property … are higher, and in more densely populated areas where fireworks are happening, it just elevates the risk even more.”
The Fourth of July is typically one of the busiest days of the year for 911. This past holiday, fireworks were believed to be the cause of at least five other house fires in Snohomish County.
O’Brien would like to see more discussion around those numbers.
“We need to figure out what to do,” he said. “I’m concerned.”
He responded to the big fire in Lake Stevens. A man who lives on 17th Street NE had collected some of the fireworks litter. The man said he noticed lights flickering in the trees. He went outside and saw a fire around his garbage can.
By the time he got his garden hose and came back, he realized the flames were “burning up the wall of his house and spreading to the neighbors,” records show. It was nearly midnight.
Dan Lorentzen, a fire investigator for Snohomish County, later wrote that the garbage can was “mostly consumed by the fire and had burned to the ground.”
Lorentzen went through what was left of it. Inside were fireworks and their cardboard tubes. Residual heat apparently came into contact with paper and plastic.
Heat and flames can travel quickly: The properties involved were closely clustered, some about 20 feet apart.
The first home and second home had serious, extensive fire damage, O’Brien said. They shared a side yard, where the garbage bin was.
At the second home, parts of the roof were charred down to the framing and partially collapsed into the rooms below. Windows were cracked by heat, and vinyl siding melted on the ground outside.
Three other houses had less serious issues, such as scorching, warped siding and smoke stains, O’Brien said. The crews used large volumes of water to keep them from burning.
“It took a lot of work and good coordinated efforts,” he said.
Many of the neighbors were out of town for the holiday. One man learned what was happening when his surveillance cameras sent an activity alert to his cellphone. He saw firefighters on his front porch, so he and his family packed up in Leavenworth and headed home.
Since then, many of the property owners have been dealing with smoke smells and insurance claims.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @rikkiking.
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