Woman dies in Bellevue house fire

BELLEVUE, Wash. — A 28-year-old woman is dead after a house fire in the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue.

Bellevue Fire Department spokeswoman Lt. Camari Olson said emergency dispatchers received a call at 2 a.m. Wednesday from a man who said there was a fire in his home and he believed his wife was trapped.

Bellevue police officers were the first to arrive at the home on 152nd Place Southeast and Southeast First Street.

Officers tried to reach the woman, who was in the daylight basement where the fire was burning, but it was too hot for them to reach her.

Firefighters arrived and found the woman in a room in the basement and brought her out through a door into the back yard. She died at the scene.

Neighbors said, in 2020, a young couple moved and both worked in the tech industry. They said the couple was vibrant and enjoyed socializing.

“It’s very sad. Just beginning their life, just got married about a year ago. It’s really sad,” said Ananya Roy, a neighbor.

“They had a lot of people, their friends come over. And because we speak the same language (Hindi) so I heard them talking and having a good time during summer. They used to have a lot of barbecues,” Roy said.

KIRO 7 is not identifying the couple at this time since investigators are still notifying family.

Firefighters were able to get the flames under control in about 10 minutes. Olson said the fire was confined to the room where the victim was found.

Bellevue Police said they would not say on Wednesday if the 28-year-old woman died from injuries related to the fire.

“We don’t know that. That’s something we’ll hopefully find out in the next couple of days,” said Capt. Joe Nault with investigations at Bellevue Police Department. However, Nault said the husband was “very cooperative” and said, “at this point we have found nothing to indicate a crime has occurred.”

The victim’s husband has non-life-threatening injuries.

Because someone died, the cause of the fire is being investigated by Bellevue fire officials, police and the Seattle branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Bellevue police said the ATF has requested help from the Pierce County Fire Marshal.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

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