ARLINGTON — The couple who lost two foster children in an intense fire Friday night thanked their neighbors and the community for embracing them during this horrible time in their lives.
In a statement released shortly after midnight Sunday, Mark and Susan Lee also explained what happened as the fire broke out in the home they were remodeling.
“First of all we would like to say how much we appreciate the love and support of the community. They have wrapped their affection around our family and we are so grateful. We are devastated by the loss of our two boys.”
The Lees and six children ranging in age from 19 to about 7 years old survived the fire. Neither the statement nor officials released any of the children’s names Sunday.
Smoke alarms alerted the family just before 11 p.m. in the 22800 block of 19th Drive NE.
The family’s late night statement tells what happened.
The Lees’ college-aged daughter smelled smoke and was just about to investigate when she heard smoke detectors going off, the statement said. She went room to room on the upper level of the house, waking the family to get them moving out of the house.
“If our daughter hadn’t been home from college, probably no one in the family would have made it out of the house. She was upstairs, heard the smoke detector go off and got most of the children awake and moving out of the house.“
Mark Lee, a Juvenile Community Corrections Officer Supervisor with the Superior Court in Everett, was doing the same on the first floor.
“When he realized the 11 year-old boy, who was upstairs, wasn’t with the others, he went up to find him,” the statement said.
“He found him and yelled to him to follow him out. When he turned, he realized he wasn’t there, but the fire at that point was so intense that Mark had to go out to get air. He desperately tried to go back in, but was overcome by the heat and smoke. At no time did anyone realize the 10 year-old was still in the house.”
The boys’ rooms were directly above each other in the northwest corner of the 4,000-square-foot house. Officials believe the fire started in the south end of the home, which was being remodeled to add more bedrooms.
Susan Lee is licensed in foster care by both the state and Compass Health, which provides social services to foster children. She has worked with special needs children for the past 10 years, according to the statement.
“We moved here a year ago so that we could have more land and a bigger home to continue our foster care,” the statement said.
“Our goal was to have a house big enough to support our foster children and have enough land to be able to let them work on projects and run and play. It is our hope to rebuild with the children we have in our care and to continue the therapeutic foster care of these special needs children.
“We were extending the house to add more bedrooms so we could accommodate more foster children. Because of the level of foster care we do, each child needs to have their own bedroom.”
Compass Health employees couldn’t discuss the family’s situation in more detail Sunday because of confidentiality issues.
“It’s a horrible tragedy. We’ll be joining the community effort to support the Lees as much as we can,” said Tom Sebastian, Compass Health director.
The Lees have proven to be committed foster parents, Sebastian said. “They have taken in many kids who have nowhere else to go and given them a safe environment.
“These are children who have very significant behavioral and mental issues,” he said.
The Lees have set up a press conference for this afternoon, according to the statement.
News about the tragedy spread quickly, and friends reached out to the family in a matter of hours.
“We are shocked. They are an exceptional family,” Gwen Legler said.
Legler and her husband, Charles Legler, know the Lees through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Arlington couple arrived at the fire scene early Saturday to help their friends even as crews were still in the midst of fighting the flames.
Charles Legler said Mark Lee works with troubled children. “I’ve seen him handle youth that other people can’t,” he said.
The Leglers said the Mormon community will mobilize quickly to support the family.
“The church has ways to help them financially, and they will be surrounded by a lot of support,” said Don Cronk, spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Everett area.
When the Lees moved into the neighborhood about a year ago, Karen Kvernenes knew they weren’t your average neighbors. “They have several foster kids, and it’s a pretty big challenge,” she said. “They have been a busy household.”
A trust fund has been set up at Bank of America’s Arlington branch, under the name of “The Lee Family Fund.”
Preliminary findings show that the fire began accidentally, fire officials said.
The two-alarm blaze likely started at a faulty electrical outlet and spread quickly, said Gary Bontrager, a fire investigator with the Snohomish County Fire Marshal’s Office. The loss is estimated at $525,000.
Davis of North County Fire said the blaze destroyed everything in the house.
“I’ve never seen a house fire spread that fast,” he said.
When firefighters arrived at the home Friday night, the blaze already had taken hold. Crews were on the scene within six minutes of the first 911 call. They quickly circled the building, surveying the fire and looking for survivors in the windows.
Flames licked out from the basement and had engulfed the back of the house, Davis said.
Temperatures likely were more than 1,000 degrees inside the house, hot enough to melt protective gear firefighters wear.
Superheated gases likely filled whatever air remained in the building. With fire exploding in the basement, the floors probably would have collapsed below the firefighters had they attempted to force their way inside, Davis said.
“There was no survivable way to get into that house,” he said. “As quick as we were there, we just weren’t given the opportunity to rescue.”
Looking at the fire, crews made the grim assessment that they boys likely already had died, Davis said.
North County Fire officials are planning a community meeting to discuss the fire. Details are expected to be worked out early this week.
“It was a tragic fire,” Davis said.
Reporter Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452 or kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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