Fire destroyed one home in Centralia and damaged a neighboring home five feet away, but the occupants of both got out safely.
Centralia Fire Chief John Lynch says Nancy Clark woke up to find her house at 721 South Locust on fire. She tried to exit through the kitchen, but the dining room ceiling had already fallen. Clark was then assisted by a neighbor and escaped only with some singed hair and no burns.
Photo by Pat Hodges.
The fire started to spread to the home of Maria Jones and Larry Kleiboeker next door at 719 South Locust. Lynch said Jones was not home, but Kleiboeker was asleep in the basement. Lynch was eventually able to wake Kleiboeker and with assistance, he was brought through the smoke upstairs and outside the home without injury.
Photo credit: Brady Toennies.
The neighboring home had the siding melt and four windows broke from the heat, but the fire department was able to keep the fire from spreading inside.
The effort to fight the fire in the Clark home was complicated by the roof collapse that caused a live power line to fall into the back of the home. Lynch said they then tried to enter the front of the home, but the fire load was too heavy and they had to fight the fire from an exterior position. Lynch says all that remains of the Clark home are the outside walls as the roof collapsed onto the living portion of the home below. Lynch reports the cause of the fire right now is undetermined, with the possibility of an electrical problem to be further investigated.
Firemen were on the scene for more than five hours, with the first call coming in at 3:04 Wednesday afternoon. All off-duty Centralia Fire Fighters were called in. The Centralia Fire Protection District, Sandoval, and Odin firemen all provided mutual aid. Lynch says they also received assistance from the Centralia Police Department, Centralia ESDA, and Lifestar ambulance.
Photo by Pat Hodges.
