The Valley Regional Fire Authority responded to 196 calls for service between Jan. 5 and Jan. 11, among them the following:
JAN. 5
Car fire: 4:20 p.m., Auburn. Firefighters responded to a passenger vehicle fire at the intersection of Terrace View Drive and East Valley Highway and found flames shooting out of the engine compartment of a small SUV. They used a hose line hooked to tank water to put out the fire. Investigators later traced the conflagration to mechanical failure.
JAN. 7
Natural gas leak: Pacific. Firefighters responding to a report of leaking natural gas in the 200 block of 3rd Avenue Southwest came upon a vehicle that had struck a residential gas meter, sheering it off at ground level. Owing to the proximity of several homes, Engine 38 called for more help and equipment. Ultimately, personnel evacuated two homes, and their 16 residents found safe refuge in a neighbor’s garage. Personnel called Puget Sound Energy, and it provided a temporary plug to the hole pending permanent repairs. Pacific police and the city’s building official investigated the incident.
Car crash: Auburn. Engine 38 was returning from the aforementioned natural gas leak call when 911 dispatched it to a vehicle fire in the 3700 block of A Street Southeast. Shortly thereafter, 911 updated the call to an accident with one vehicle on fire, so additional VRFA units joined the response. Engine 38 arrived to find a two-vehicle collision with one of the vehicles, a flatbed utility truck, fully engulfed in flames. The truck driver got out uninjured through a passenger door. The female driver of the second vehicle, walked away from the crash as well, though personnel treated her for minor injuries and transported her to Auburn Regional Medical Center for follow-up care.
Flooding: 5:30 p.m., Auburn. Firefighters responded to minor flooding in a home in the 400 block of 37th Street Southeast. Firefighters contacted the City of Auburn to coordinate the placement of sand bags at the front of the home.
JAN. 9
Aid call: 3:26 p.m., Auburn. Units responded to the bank of the Stuck River near the 4200 block of A Street Southeast to help a 36-year-old woman with hypothermia who had spent 30 minutes in the icy water of the rain-swollen river. The woman and her boyfriend lived in a tent near the river, and when the river rose during the day it overtook their camp. The woman was trying to recover some of her personal belongings from the camp area when the cold of the river overcame her. The boyfriend and a male bystander eventually pulled the woman to safety and called 911. Personnel treated the woman for hypothermia, and an ambulance transported her to Auburn Regional Medical Center.
JAN. 10
Flood damage assessment: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., (Pacific). Firefighters reported to the Pacific Emergency Operations Center to help assess the damage to flooded homes in Pacific where they evaluated and documented the height of the water into and under the buildings. They also noted the type of damage and provided the information to City of Pacific officials.
JAN. 11
Water problem: 1:08 a.m., Lakeland area of Auburn. Units responded to the 4700 block of Millpond Loop Southeast and an automatic fire alarm. Firefighters found a sprinkler pipe had burst in the attic space of a second-floor apartment, flooding several units. Residents had already shut off the water. Firefighters helped homeowners with water removal and with tearing out the carpets and pads. Damage throughout the apartment was extensive.
