Fire damages home in North Bend

Steve and Lisa Richardson sorted through the remains Thursday of a Wednesday night fire that heavily damaged their North Bend home.

Lisa Richardson was unsure how much could be salvaged, but she didnt expect to find much on the second floor, were the worst of the damage was.

The upper level had our master bedroom, my home office; all of thats a total loss, she said. The main floor had the kids bedroom, and were able to probably salvage most of their belongings in their bedroom. The furnishings in the living area are not as damaged, but well still have some smoke damage.

Another priority on Thursday was making arrangements for a temporary home. She, her husband and their 10-year-old twin boys stayed with friends Wednesday night after quickly leaving their home of 20 years and calling the fire department when they saw smoke.

Everyone escaped unharmed.

We were at home watching television, she said. I was in the living room with the kids, my husband was watching television in the kitchen. The lights flickered a little bit, we heard some buzzing noise, and then the TV in the kitchen went out.

We thought maybe we had blown a fuse, she continued. My husband checked the fuse box and tried to correct that a couple times. When they didnt stay on, we came up. By that time, as we were coming around the kitchen, there was smoke coming from the upstairs, from the attic area.

We did have smoke detectors, she said. Unfortunately the batteries were not working. It was a matter of four or five minutes from the time we noticed the flicker to the time we saw the smoke. Unfortunately the smoke detectors werent working, but everybody was on alert at that point anyway.

North Bend Fire Chief Kevin Dubbs said his department was called to the home at 641 E. NinthSt. shortly after 8 p.m.

On arrival we had visible flames coming from the back of the house under the eaves and smoke coming from the eavesover the back door area, Dubbs said.

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Fire damages home in North Bend