North Whidbey house fire sends man to the hospital

A man was transported to Whidbey General Hospital Monday night after a fire damaged a home on North Whidbey,  according to North Whidbey Fire and Rescue.

Firefighters responded at approximately 9:30 p.m. to a report of a house fire near the intersection of Jones Road and Jack Rabbit Lane, which is located north of Oak Harbor. When firefighters arrived, a bedroom was engulfed in flames.

Four people were at home when the fire started. Deputy Chief Mike Brown, with North Whidbey Fire and Rescue, said a man living in the house tried to extinguish the fire. He was transported to Whidbey General Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. The rest of the family escaped the house uninjured.

Firefighters managed to contain the fire to the bedroom where it started, according to a news release. Once the fire was contained at approximately 10:15 p.m., firefighters worked to protect the owner’s belongings.

Eighteen North Whidbey Fire and Rescue firefighters — using three fire engines, a water tender, two rescue trucks, one ambulance and paramedics from Whidbey General Hospital — responded to the fire. Brown said volunteer firefighters had finished their weekly Monday evening training session when the call for the fire sounded.

The Island Chapter of the American Red Cross is helping the family find housing, Brown said.

The blaze was apparently caused by an overloaded extension cord coiled up in the closet and buried under the residents’ belongings, Brown said.

Monday’s fire marks the second time in recent weeks that an extension cord caused a house fire. In mid-February, a faulty electrical receptacle and extension cord that ran to a freezer caused a fire that destroyed a home off Ault Field Road near the base.

 

Contact Whidbey News Times Staff reporter Nathan Whalen at nwhalen@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5058.

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