MLFD Firefighter injured in Lakeview neighborhood house fire Monday evening

-Moses Lake, WA

One Moses Lake Fire Fighter was injured while fighting a single house fire in the Lakeview neighborhood on the 500 block of Canterbury Lane.

According to the City of ML, at approximately 6:25 p.m. on August 8, the Moses Lake Fire Department was dispatched to a reported structure fire. During the initial response MLFD crews reported a large column of black smoke coming from the vicinity of the reported incident.

Crews arrived to find a single-family residence engulfed in flames. Initial reports provided to arriving units indicated the possibility of two residents still being in the structure. Crews made entry into the structure and performed a primary search for victims while beginning suppression of the fire.

While the primary search was being conducted a resident of the home was located by incident command and it was verified that all occupants of the home were out of the structure. This information was relayed to interior crews and the operation switched from suppression / rescue to suppression.

During the initial phases of the fire a support beam from an attached porch covering failed and struck a 46-year-old firefighter. The firefighter was transported to Samaritan Hospital by a Moses Lake Fire Department medic unit. The firefighter received treatment at the Emergency Department in Samaritan Hospital and was released from the hospital later in the evening.

The cause of the fire has been determined to be an open container of gasoline that was located too close to an operating barbeque grill, resulting in a fire that was unable to be controlled by the occupants of the home.

The initial response to the incident was made by two engines, a medic unit, and two command officers. In later stages of the fire Grant County Fire District 5 provided support with an engine and a rehab unit, and AMR had a medic unit on standby at the scene while MLFD transported the injured firefighter. Units cleared the scene at approximately 9:30 p.m.

The structure is uninhabitable and has been posted as a dangerous building due to potential collapse hazards by the City of Moses Lake Building Department.