Sumner Avenue was temporarily closed Thursday morning as the Hoquiam Fire Department, with assistance from the Aberdeen Fire Department and Grays Harbor Fire District, responded to a substantial structural fire.
The call came in from a neighbor at 9:41 a.m., said Hoquiam Assistant Fire Chief Matt Miller.
“A neighbor across the street noticed smoke coming out of the house,” Miller said. “It was in like, an attached garage.”
Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Smoke was still visible from a residential structure fire in Hoquiam on Thursday.
With the extent of the fire and many of Hoquiam’s fire department personnel decisively committed elsewhere, other agencies were tapped for assistance, Miller said.
“Any time we have fire venting like that, we call in a second alarm, which calls in off-duty (personnel),” Miller said. “Hoquiam initially only had three people to respond to that fire. We just wanted those extra people to get there as quickly as we could.”
Nine Hoquiam firefighters including Miller responded, with 11 more firefighters from the Aberdeen Fire Department and two firefighters from Grays Harbor Regional Fire Authority District Two, Miller said.
Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Firefighters strip off their gear after responding to a residential structure fire in Hoquiam on Thursday.
Substantial debris build-up, both around the structure and inside the building itself, made gaining access difficult, Miller said, with firefighters eventually breaching through the roof.
“There was a lot of vegetation. Inside the house there was a lot of debris,” Miller said. “We eventually ended up having to cut a hole in the roof to gain access.”
A firefighter walks down the alley behind a residential structure fire in Hoquiam on Thursday. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)
The addition to the house was identified as the region of origin, Miller said, and was critically damaged by the fire and firefighting efforts.
“The addition and the back half of the house — a mud-room slash laundry room was the general area of origin and that was badly damaged,” Miller said. “The door going to the rest of the house was closed which helped significantly prevent the fire from spreading.”
Sumner Avenue was briefly closed as local fire departments responded to a residential structure fire on Thursday. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)
The department was not able to identify a specific cause of the fire’s outbreak, Miller said. All of the occupants were at work at the time of the fire and no casualties resulted from the outbreak.
“Working smoke detectors save lives,” Miller said. “Keeping your house and yard free of debris significantly affects our operations.”
Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.
