Fire Reduces Mulberry Lane Home In Wenatchee To Ashes, Pet Dog Still Missing

A Wenatchee residence has been reduced to cinders following a Monday afternoon fire.

Crews with the Wenatchee Valley Fire Department (WVFD) responded to the blaze at around 3:35 p.m. in the 1800 block of Mulberry Lane and arrived at the scene to find the single-wide mobile home fully involved.

"Flames were coming out of the roof and I think every door and window in that structure had fire shooting out," says WVFD Battalion Chief Cam Phillips, who added that the blaze began on the front porch of the home.

Firefighters reportedly had no chance to save the residence, which was completely destroyed, while an adjacent mobile home at the rear of the property was threatened by the flames and received minor damage, and an outbuilding on the front lawn of the home sustained more significant damage.

A residence on Mulberry Lane in Wenatchee lies in ruins following a Monday afternoon fire. (photo credit: Cam Phillips, Wenatchee Valley Fire Dept.)

Phillips says the inferno was so intense that it sparked a number of spot fires at neighboring homes, including one which damaged a chicken coup and another that melted holes in the bed of a backyard trampoline.

The home's two occupants were able to escape without injury, but Phillips says they didn't even realize the dwelling was ablaze until hearing a loud explosion outside.

Phillips added that the explosion rocked the entire neighborhood and echoed throughout the Wenatchee Valley, citing its cause as a faulty propane tank which "turned itself inside out" in the process and caught the porch, and eventually the entire structure on fire.

The resident of a neighboring home reportedly witnessed flames shooting over 30 feet in the air from the canister before it exploded, and was pushed back several feet by the force of the blast.

The faulty propane tank believed to have sparked a fire that destroyed a Mulberry Lane home in Wenatchee on Monday sits within the razed ruins of the residence. (photo credit: Cam Phillips, Wenatchee Valley Fire Dept.)

Although no injuries occurred at the destroyed residence, Phillips says a neighbor who lives several homes down the block did suffer burn injuries while attempting to extinguish one the spot fires.

The home's two occupants told crews they have three dogs and only two of them had been accounted for as of late Monday, although Phillips says there were reports that the missing animal might have been spotted at a nearby cemetery but he could not confirm this.

Phillips says the home's contents were insured for losses but the home itself was not, and the homeowners are now in the process of receiving assistance from the American Red Cross Greater Inland Northwest Chapter and other agencies for temporary shelter and various additional needs.

Firefighters had to return to the site of the blaze on Tuesday morning to stamp out several hot spots created by Monday's fire that were still smoldering.