The Enterprise - White Salmon, Washington

Christmas Day fire destroys Snowden home

Efforts hampered by weather

Sverre Bakke

December 29, 2012

By SVERRE BAKKE The Enterprise The cause of a Christmas morning fire that destroyed a home at 59 N. Major Creek Rd. remains under investigation, according to the chief of Klickitat County Fire Protection District No. 3. Chief Chuck Virts said the renovated 4,000-square-foot structure was “unfortunately, a total loss,” but luckily, unoccupied the day of the fire, save for two dogs, which a neighbor “got out safely before the fire extended into the garage where they had been.” Heavy snowfall in the Snowden area and the isolated location of the residence worked against firefighters trying to respond to the fire call originating from near the end of N. Major Creek Road, an offshoot of Bates Road. Local fire agencies received a “fire alarm” alert at about 10 a.m. from the residence’s home security system company and mobilized a response with firefighters from Fire District No. 3’s Cherry Lane station and the White Salmon Volunteer Fire Department “The crews at Station 31 in Snowden were fortunate to find a manned county road grader equipped for plowing snow at their station,” Virts noted. “The grader operator immediately went into action, clearing the truck ramp in front of the station.” After removing snow from the ramp, the grader operator plowed snow for the 11 firefighters with five fire trucks “all the way to the scene and then helped with clearing an area for the fire apparatus to set up and operate,” Virts said. From their staging area, firefighters ran hose lines down a hill to the home’s location overlooking the Major Creek drainage. By the time firefighters extended 800 feet of hose to the structure, though, “the house was fully involved,” Virts said. Putting the fire out became an impossibility, he continued, and firefighters withdrew for their own safety when the fire began moving toward a propane tank just outside the wall of the garage. “It was a heartbreaking fire,” Virts said. “First, because it was Christmas, and secondly, because of the weather-related delays and snowy road conditions.” The owner of the residence, Steve Anderson, is a Kelso resident. Virts spoke with him by telephone on Christmas Day. “Judging from what I saw and what Steve told me, this was a high-end second home, a weekend retreat, and project house that he had put 15 years of effort into making very nice,” Virts said. “It was for sure not your average cabin.”