Fire destroys Westend house
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August 5, 2010
Fire departments from Cathlamet to Naselle were called to fight a three alarm fire on South Satterlund Road around noon last Thursday in Grays River. They were called to the home of Trudy and Delvin Fredrickson.
Grays River Fire District 3 and Skamokawa Fire District 2 firefighters were already on scene when Cathlamet Fire District 1 arrived a few minutes later.
The Fredrickson home was fully engulfed. Flames shot through the roof of the two-story house into the sky. The fire was hot and the burning three-tab roof sent billows of gray-black smoke across the Grays River valley floor. It was the second house destroyed by fire in a week in the Westend.
As the firefighters fought the fire from three sides, the upstairs, west wall weakened and leaned inward, forcing the flames back down the walls and into the spaces between the ceiling joists.
The fire moved down inside the roof and into the house eves pretty quickly, said Grays River Incident Commander Tim Martin. Firefighters quickly tore open the eves and doused them with water.
Grays River firefighter Austin Burkhalter and Skamokawa firefighter Paul Stewart grabbed a ladder and placed it under the eves. Stewart steadied the ladder while Burkhalter climbed and doused the flames shooting from beneath of what remained of the roof.
By this time the fire had spread into the walls of the front room. A firefighter on the south side of the house saw the blaze climb the curtains and reach the ceiling in the front room. He aimed his high pressure hose at a picture window, trying to knock it out, to no avail. The water bounced off the window into the yard.
Seconds later Delvin Fredrickson saw what the firefighter had tried to do and threw a brick that shattered the window. The firefighter knocked out both the remaining glass and the curtain fire at the same time. But by this time the heat had caused the front room couch to smolder and ignite.
About the same time a section of the upstairs wall and a section of the carport both gave way, simultaneously. Firefighters working on the blaze in the carport backed out and let the smoke and debris clear before redirecting water toward a wood pile at the back of the carport.
Moments later Cathlamet fire Caption Beau Renfro, Matt Beaulaurier and Erik Schillios all emerged from the interior of the house. The three were smudged and smeared with a pasty layer of sodden ash. Their turn out gear was almost black. They dripped gray water. Renfros air mask was covered in a thick layer of soot.
The crew grabbed a fire hose and dashed back into the house through a back door near the collapsed carport. Smoke bellowed out the door. They pulled the hose up to the second floor landing where they doused the remaining flames.
By this time a crowed had gathered in a semi-circle in the front yard. Trudy Fredrickson stood clutching two dolls she had managed to save. At her feet were a set of the familys dishes. She watched the firefighters and the flames. Her friend Colleen Haley gave her hug.
Delvin Fredrickson and Undersheriff Jon Dearmore stood next to the two women. Dearmore put his arm on Delvins shoulder in a silent show of support. They both watched as another section of the roof fell.
The fire fighters continued working for several more hours making sure theyd extinguished every ember. In the end the house was a total loss.
Dearmore, one of the first to arrive, later said they were hard pressed to save any of the Fredricksons possessions.
They didnt get much out, said Dearmore. I helped Delvin get his guns and ammo and thats about it.
As firefighters put out the last embers, Trudy and Delvin stood holding hands, looking at the charred remains of their house. Delvin glanced up and noticed his weather vane still stood, bent and blackened at the peak of his house.
Looks like bad weather ahead, he said with a grim, half smile.
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