New Moses Lake postmaster's vehicle catches fire

MOSES LAKE - The truck in Debbie Welden's driveway was supposed to be her son Levi's to drive when he turns 16 on Thursday.

But after watching Moses Lake Fire Department firefighters put out a fire in her 1995 Dodge Dakota truck, Welden said Levi would probably be driving something else.

The truck caught fire Tuesday morning about 7:30 a.m.

"I don't know what happened to it," Welden said. "I had some work done on it yesterday because it was having problems and this is what happened."

Welden was in the truck, and said there was a loud pop when she started it up.

"Then I saw flames coming up from underneath the hood and I tried to get out as fast as I could," she said. "I jumped out and underneath there was liquid, it was burning on fire."

Welden's neighbors saw her jump out, and thought she was jumping right into the flames, but Welden said she didn't feel any fire. She ran and grabbed a hose to spray the fire while her neighbors called 911. Then she ran into her house and got her family out of bed just in case and put the family dogs in the back yard.

There were no injuries.

There was no damage to Welden's house on Monroe Street. She had closed on the house Aug. 9 and moved in Aug. 14.

"I'm glad no one was hurt and that I had parked that truck away from the house," she said. "It's six, eight feet away from the house and that probably saved the house. If you're not going to park in the garage, park away from your house a little bit, give it some room."

Moses Lake Fire Department acting officer Paul Guerin said it looked like the fire started in the engine compartment.

"Nobody was hurt, other than the truck," he said. "The truck is pretty much a total loss."

Guerin urged residents to back off once a fire gets beyond what they can handle with a fire extinguisher or if it gets onto the house. They should not risk their life to save something which can be replaced, he said.

"She had trouble getting out of the car with the seat belt stuck and everything," Guerin said. "That could have been a pretty big tragedy if she wouldn't have gotten the seat belt off."

Welden is the new Moses Lake postmaster. She is sworn into the position Thursday at 3 p.m. at the Moses Lake Post Office.