Fire destroys empty house and more

Fire razed several buildings in Electric City early Tuesday morning, including an unoccupied house.

When the call went out about 12:30 a.m., the fire was already well underway, said Mark Payne, fire chief in Electric City.

The fire at the house at 118 Fifth Street near the edge of the city also started a small wildland fire that burned about an acre near the edge of the city on a windless night in dry brush.

Payne, who could be heard asking dispatchers to call out more firefighters and brush trucks from nearby fire departments after 1 a.m., said it had started to move toward another house on the point overlooking Banks Lake and toward the hillside that leads to Sunbanks Lake Resort. They kept it from spreading.

A downed powerline at the scene kept firefighters from preferred equipment placement for more than two hours while Grant County PUD linemen had to respond from Ephrata. With no hydrant on Fifth, hoses had to be strung from a Fourth Street hydrant.

"Dead-end road and the powerlines, just a cluster," Payne said.

Payne suspects the powerline as the cause of the fire. When firefighters arrived, it was arching on the ground near the house, from which it had become detached, he said. Linemen had to cut the powerline.

Payne said neighbors helped by wetting down nearby houses and yards before firefighters' arrival.

The house and garage and more than one outbuilding were lost. The house is listed on a county assessor map as belonging to Dwayne Frye.

Firefighters and equipment responded from Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Elmer City and the Bureau of Reclamation. "A big thank you to all of them," Payne said.

Firefighters returned to their stations about 4:30 a.m., all but one who stayed on to keep watch, Payne said.