Chamber helps Moses Lake fire victims
The home of Chuck Jr. and Sara Yarbro was damaged in a house fire this week near Moses Lake.
MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce reached out Wednesday to a Moses Lake family recently displaced by a house fire.
The home belongs to Chuck Jr. and Sara Yarbro, according to Debbie Doran-Martinez, executive director of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.
Doran-Martinez said she is meeting with the family today to see what assistance they need. The family's business, Chuck Yarbro Auctioneers, is a well-known name in the community.
"Many in our community have benefited by the generosity of this family," she wrote in an email to chamber members. "We have worked with them at our fundraising auctions throughout this community."
The family has a temporary place to stay, but "basically only has the clothes on their back," she wrote.
If people want to offer comfort to the family or make donations to them, their family business at 213 S. Beech St. in Moses Lake will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., today and Friday, according to Doran-Martinez.
"They've touched everyone's hearts in the community," she said.
Fire officials suspect electrical issues started the fire this week.
About eight pieces of equipment responded to the fire and had most of it extinguished in about 15 minutes, Fire District 5 Fire Chief Dan Smith said Wednesday. Firefighters stayed on the scene until about 5 p.m. extinguishing hot spots, after being called to the fire at noon, Smith said.
The occupants were not home at the time, but two dogs were killed in the fire, Smith said. The front entryway was destroyed, and the rest of the home suffered heavy smoke damage.
"It was purely contained to that structure," he said. "(The residents) won't be able to go back into (the home) until me make some renovations to it."
The Grant County fire marshal's preliminary investigation reportedly narrowed the cause to one of the switches in the front entryway, Smith said.