Fire Damages Home, Family Safe

A malfunctioning propane bottle feeding a stove and space heater in the basement of a house on the 500 block of South Naches Avenue led to an early morning fire Wednesday that caused upwards of $30,000 in damage.

According to the Yakima Fire Department, six people awoke to a strong smell of smoke coming from the basement at 4:58 a.m. A young woman sleeping in the basement woke up to find it completely filled with smoke. She then woke up her mother, also sleeping in the basement, and then alerted the other four people sleeping in the top floor of the two story house.

All six people got out of the house prior to firefighters arriving. Firefighters were able to rescue four dogs inside the house; one dog got out of the house by itself.

The fire occupied half of the basement and was under control within 15 minutes of firefighters arriving.
Firefighters say there was a working smoke detector in the basement that was sounding when the first two women woke up.

The damage to the contents of the home is estimated to be approximately $20,000 and $10,000 to the house itself. There was also some smoke and heat damage to the rest of the home.