A 68-year-old woman died early Thursday morning after a fire destroyed a home in Spanaway, according to Central Pierce Fire and Rescue.
The fire was reported shortly after 1 a.m. at a home located on a remote side road, 253rd St Ct East, in Spanaway, near Mountain Highway East.
Fire crews were unable to reach the woman trapped inside the burning home due to the intensity of the flames.
According to fire officials, other people living at the property were able to get out and away from the fire. One person was taken to a local hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
No firefighters were injured.
Firefighters described the location as a remote side road, which made the response more difficult as they attempted to reach the structure.
Once it was determined the flames were too intense to enter the home, crews shifted their focus to containment to protect the surrounding environment.
Steve Richards, the division chief and public information officer for Central Pierce Fire and Rescue, noted the high risk of the fire reaching nearby vegetation.
“There is a lot of brush a lot of trees around that house fortunately the crews were able to get on it and get the fire out and we had no fire spread to any other structures,” Richards said.
Neighbors were alerted to the destruction later in the morning as emergency responders and news crews remained at the scene.
Joshua Baird, who lives next door, said he had slept through the incident and was unaware of the fire until he was informed by KIRO 7’s Ranji Sinha.
“You just knocked on my door and told me my neighbor’s house burned down,” Baird said.
He expressed shock at the total loss of the home and the news that his neighbor had been killed.
Persistent dry conditions in the Spanaway area have contributed to heightened fire concerns since early July, according to Baird. He said he had been worried about the risk of sparks igniting a larger fire well before the July 4 holiday because of the dry vegetation surrounding the homes.
“It does especially with me needing to mow my own lawn because fire can spread through dry grass,” Baird said.
He noted that he had increased his watering and mowing efforts recently to reduce the risk to his own property.
The local environment has also been affected by air quality issues stemming from large-scale fires in other parts of the state.
Investigators are currently working to determine the cause of the fire.
The identities of the 68-year-old victim and the survivor treated for smoke inhalation have not been publicly released by authorities.
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