BRIER – An elderly woman escaped a fire at her Brier home this morning after her smoke alarm alerted her to the blaze.
The fire was reported about 5:45 a.m. in a double-wide mobile home in the 3200 block of 232nd Street SW. Brier police officers arrived to find the woman on her front porch with smoke pouring out the front door. The officers helped the woman to safety as firefighters arrived, said Leslie Hynes, spokeswoman for Snohomish County Fire District 1.
Firefighters quickly doused the flames, which were burning underneath the floor of the home.
The woman was not injured. Two dogs and two dozen birds also survived the fire. A cat is still unaccounted for but is believed to have escaped, Hynes said.
Investigators believe the fire started near the furnace. The blaze damaged the floor, wiring and plumbing underneath the mobile home and caused heavy smoke damage, leaving it uninhabitable. The woman has insurance. She and her grandson plan to stay with relatives.
“This fire might have had a tragic outcome if the smoke alarm hadn’t sounded to wake the woman,” Hynes said.
Hynes encouraged people to test their smoke alarms monthly and change the batteries at least twice a year. Fire District 1 installs free smoke alarms for residents in the district’s service area, which includes unincorporated areas of south Snohomish County and the cities of Brier and Mountlake Terrace. For more information, call Kim Schroeder at 425-551-1254.
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