Family displaced in North Whidbey house fire

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 4, 2026

A North Whidbey resident was injured and a family displaced in what firefighters say was another fireworks-related fire over the weekend.

The fire, which spread into the attic of a home at the end of North Evergreen Street, appears to have been caused by an 8-year-old playing with a lighter and fireworks, Battalion Chief Ian Walton said.

Walton said firefighters were initially dispatched to a fire with “possible explosions.”

Caleb Webb, a nearby resident, told the News-Times in a text he heard a “crazy loud bang and like the whistle of a firework,” followed by shouting.

A neighbor extinguished much of the fire with a hose before firefighters arrived. One man injured his hand pulling a propane tank away from the home. Firefighters found a spent mortar and other fireworks on a plastic table on the deck. The fire started outside, spread up the side of the home and into the attic.

Walton said the child did not admit to starting the fire but quickly identified where lighters were kept in the home.

“It was fairly obvious,” he added, speaking to the fire’s apparent origin.

While the home did not sustain extensive physical damage, Walton called the smoke damage “extensive.”

Navy Fire and Mount Erie firefighters also responded to the scene. There are very few hydrants in unincorporated North Whidbey, Walton explained, and mutual aid can help transport water to the scenes of fires.

“It makes it very difficult for positioning apparatus and thinking outside the box for water supply operations,” he added.

The latest fire follows several other fireworks-related incidents on Whidbey this summer. Over the Fourth of July weekend, fireworks were suspected of causing several vegetation fires, a fire on a boat and a fire in the remains of a historic building. In June, 700 pounds of fireworks exploded in a Greenbank home.

Reduced fuel moisture levels, low humidity and warmer temperatures have created an “extreme” risk of outdoor fires, according to a release from the county fire marshal announcing an upgraded county burn ban that took effect Wednesday morning. That ban includes the use and discharge of fireworks.

“While local conditions are not as dry as other parts of the state, local firefighting resources are increasingly being dispatched to assist with fires elsewhere in the state, reducing our local firefighting resources,” the release adds.

Roughly 900 firefighters have responded to devastating wildfires in Spokane alone, the Seattle Times reported earlier this week.

Gov. Bob Ferguson implemented a statewide burn ban Aug. 1.