Fire guts Cascade Valley residence
A dog and cat died Tuesday in a mobile home fire on Stanley Road Northeast in the Cascade Valley near Moses Lake. The owner of the building was not home at the time of the blaze. Photo by Lynne Lynch/Columbia Basin Herald
Homeowner displaced
MOSES LAKE - Kimberly Towne, 39, was left with only her Bible and a few family photos after a fire gutted her mobile home Tuesday night in the Cascade Valley.
A possible source of the blaze is an electrical furnace in the center of the building, which is where fire was found, said Leonard Johnson, a battalion chief with Grant County Fire District No. 5.
Sixteen firefighters with the fire district responded to the fire on Stanley Road N.E., he said.
Firefighters learned Towne was not inside after they extinguished the blaze and searched the residence.
Towne was displaced by the fire and the Red Cross was called to help her, Johnson said.
Towne was staying at a Moses Lake hotel Thursday where the Red Cross placed her for three days, she said. She's not sure where she will go next.
"I have nothing," Towne said. "I have to start from scratch."
Her dog "Shorty" and cat "New Edition" both perished in the blaze, she said.
The only salvageable items were her Bible and two family photos, one of her late grandmother, she said.
Her 52-year-old trailer was uninsured and she's asking for donations to help clean up the fire debris. To help, people can call her friend Mary Howard at 509-764-6641.
Towne said she doesn't own the land the trailer sits on.
She's collecting disability benefits and her monthly income is $600. Towne can afford a monthly rent of $400 and needs help finding housing.
She was seriously injured in a car accident about five years ago, breaking her hip and knee. Pins were also placed in her leg, she said. The injuries prevented her from working, she said.
Firefighters extinguished the fire in about 10 minutes and then spent about four hours going through burned debris to ensure the fire was out, Johnson said.
About 50 percent of the home was burned by fire and the rest of the home was damaged by heavy smoke, he said.
The Grant County Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the fire, Johnson said.