Smoke Alarm Alerts Beaverton Residents to Fire Allowing them to Safely Escape

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Around 2:30a.m. on July 28, 2011, a resident of a home in the 13000 block of SW 2nd Street in Beaverton called 9-1-1 reporting a fire in his attic. Within five minutes, units from Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue's Beaverton fire stations arrived to find a single-story home with smoke showing from the eves. Fortunately all five of the adult male occupants had safely evacuated the home, and firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze, limiting fire damage to the attic.

A fire investigator has confirmed that the fire started on the outside of the home and traveled up an exterior wall into the attic space. Earlier in the evening, residents of the home had been burning items in a fire pit, including a pressurized canister which burst and spread hot shards into the yard. Unbeknownst to the residents, a scrap of the hot metal landed in an upholstered seat resting against the home's exterior. During the night, heat built up and the chair began to burn, igniting the exterior wall.

The residents became aware of the fire thanks to a working smoke alarm in a nearby bedroom that had been activated by smoke entering an open window. The smoke alarm had been recently installed at the request of the building official since the home was being remodeled. The residents tried to extinguish the burning chair prior to calling 9-1-1, but the fire spread too quickly.

There were no injuries as a result of the fire and damage is estimated at $50,000.



Author:Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Press Release