POULSBO — A family of six escaped harm early Oct. 17 when a fast-moving fire destroyed their home near Highway 3 and NW Thompson Road.
When firefighters arrived, they found the home fully engulfed in flames, Poulsbo Fire spokeswoman Jody Matson reported. The home was situated down a long driveway, but callers on Highway 3 reported seeing “flames reaching to the sky.”
Responding to the scene: Poulsbo Fire Department, North Kitsap Fire and Rescue, Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue, and Navy Region Northwest.
The 57-year-old father and 38-year-old mother were up most of the night packing as they were preparing to move. The mother said she noticed a “burning smell” when she came out of her second-story bedroom.
“I took a couple of steps down the stairs and saw the smoke,” she told Matson. “I immediately turned back up the stairs and ran to wake my son and daughter. They were sleeping in bedrooms upstairs. I grabbed the cat and we ran down the stairs, through the smoke, and went out the front door. As we were standing there, the house went dark. All the power to the house shut off and then we started seeing the flames.”
The father said his two younger daughters, ages 7 and 3, were so excited to be moving that they were already up. He had just left to take them to Walmart when he got the call from his wife that the house was on fire, Matson reported.
Crews were unable to save the house, but were successful in stopping the fire from spreading to nearby structures and vegetation. The fire took approximately an hour and a half to extinguish, Matson reported. The Kitsap County Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.
The Red Cross is assisting and the father said the family has renter’s insurance. The mother told Matson, “I am just so glad I was awake and up. I didn’t hear the smoke alarm until I started down the stairs, saw the smoke and then heard the alarm coming from a downstairs room.”
Fire officials advise homeowners and renters to have a smoke alarm on every level of the home, as well as one in every bedroom. “It’s important to practice your home fire-escape plan and have two ways out of every sleeping room,” Matson reported.
