Fire that consumed Gold Bar home deemed suspicious

GOLD BAR — An unoccupied home near Gold Bar burned in a suspicious fire early Tuesday, fire officials said.

Neighbors heard an explosion around 3:25 a.m. on 399th Avenue SE., a quarter-mile north of city limits.

Firefighters arrived to find flames consuming the single-story house and spreading into brush and trees, said Eric Andrews, chief of Snohomish County Fire District 26.

The house burned to its frame.

The fire’s cause remains under investigation. It’s considered suspicious, Andrews said. The home had no electricity, and no one had been living there. Also, hours earlier on Monday afternoon, a brush fire was extinguished about a block south.

Snohomish County records show the one-acre property was recently assessed at $127,000.