Car plunges down embankment and catches fire in Cowlitz County, no victims found

PHOTOS: Firefighters from Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue responded to a motor vehicle crash Saturday morning. Crews were dispatched at 7:41 a.m. to Alpha Drive near the Cedar Valley Mobile Home Park. Bystanders reported the vehicle went over the edge of the road and down a 20-foot embankment and caught fire, officials said. Firefighters arrived and reported the car fully engulfed. Crews were able to knock down the fire within a few minutes. Fire officials told KATU News that there were no victims inside the car or in the area. The crash remains under investigation.
KATU-TV ABC 2 Portland

Everett Fire Says Opioid Use May Have Contributed To Man Setting Himself On Fire

Early Friday Morning, Everett Fire was called to a motel in the 10000 block of Evergreen Way for a report of a smoke alarm sounding and the smell of smoke coming from one of the rooms. Fire crews arrived to find an unconscious male in the room with his clothes on fire. Firefighters quickly extinguished the remainder of the fire on the clothes and patient. Paramedics treated the patient, a 31-year-old male, for second and third-degree burns to his torso, arms, and neck and transported him to Harborview Medical Center, where he remains hospitalized. It is suspected that the use of fentanyl or opiate use may be a contributing factor in this incident. The misuse of opioids and fentanyl is a growing concern in Washington State and across the United States.
My Everett News

House fire caused by heater displaces family in Walla Walla

According to a press release from the Walla Walla Fire Department, a house caught fire early in the morning of Thursday, Nov. 23 on Chase Avenue and W Maple Street. WWFD says crews were sent out to the fire at 12:15 a.m., finding heavy smoke and flames coming from the back of the house and later finding smoke coming from the basement. WWFD, with assistance from Walla Walla County Fire District 4 and the College Place Fire Department, confirmed no one was in the house before controlling the fire by 12:36 a.m. The fire was determined to be an accident by investigators who found combustible items stored too close to a portable heater. Two people from the home went to a local hospital for smoke inhalation. No firefighters were injured.
KNDU-TV NBC 25 Richland

One person injured after fire at Tukwila grocery store

A large fire broke out at a Somali grocery store in Tukwila on Friday morning and escalated to a second alarm, meaning about 40 firefighters were on the scene, before it was extinguished. When firefighters arrived, they found a fire on the first and second floors of Sophiya Halal Mini Market located near Tukwila International Boulevard and South 146th Street. Nobody was in the building when firefighters arrived, Puget Sound Fire Public Information Officer Division Chief Pat Pawlak said. However, one person escaped the building before crews arrived. That individual suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital by ambulance. According to Puget Sound Fire, the blaze appears to have started on the exterior at the back of the building.
KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

Spokane Fire Department using AI technology to improve city-wide safety

VIDEO: Soon, Fire Station 5 in Eagle Ridge is going to be under construction, and thanks to new AI technology “Darkhorse,” the public won’t notice a difference. “Station 5 with our concrete, that company is going to be relocated temporarily. We can model exactly what the outcome of that move will be,” said Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer. That outcome is calculated by data from the fire department that goes back years. Darkhorse AI allows the fire department to see those potential outcomes, before making any final decisions. “We're able to advance the knowledge that we learn on a daily basis into future decisions on deployment,” Schaeffer said. When you look at a map of the city, the fire station downtown is green, which means most incidents they respond to are well-staffed, and performance is high.
KXLY-TV ABC 4 Spokane

2 RVs burned in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood as colder temps increase risk for encampment fires

VIDEO/PHOTOS: People living in two RVs in Seattle's SODO neighborhood escaped serious injury when a fire broke out Friday afternoon. The Seattle Fire Department (SFD) responded to an encampment fire at the intersection of 6th Ave South and South Stacey Street around 2:45 p.m. “I immediately ran down and yelled because I saw people scrambling. We were yelling that there was a propane tank," said Julian Peterson, a witness who lives in an RV near where the fire occurred. The fire spread between two RVs in the encampment, but firefighters were able to douse the flames within a few minutes. Fire investigators were seen documenting the scene for several hours. While the cause of the fire has not been determined, people in the area believed either a cooking or warming fire was likely to blame.
KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle