INDEX — A fire burned a home to the ground south of Index Monday morning.
Firefighters were looking through debris for a person who may have been inside, said Fire Chief Eric Andrews with Snohomish County Fire District 26.
The flames were reported just before 8 a.m. The home along Payton Creek Road, a rural and sparsely populated area, was burning hot by the time someone called for help.
“When you have a house that involved, it collapses,” Andrews said.
Firefighters ran into complications. They had to stop short of a bridge that wasn’t sturdy enough to hold the weight of a fire engine. Instead, firefighters lugged the hoses 1,000 feet to the home, Andrews said.
There also are no hydrants in the area, so they carried in water on trucks.
The house was supposed to be unoccupied, Andrews said. Neighbors told fire officials someone had been staying there for several weeks. The man’s bike was outside.
Firefighters were looking for the man. The Snohomish County fire marshal is investigating the fire’s cause.
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