Possible ‘electrical fire’ may have burned Issaquah family out of home

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — An Issaquah family lost everything when their house burned nearly to the ground.

It happened after they called the power company to deal with an electrical short.

Puget Sound Energy was on site on 245th Ave Southeast in Mirrormont near Issaquah last Saturday. That’s when the family said what appeared to be a short in the electrical system exploded into flames.

A man, his son and the family dog escaped with their lives and little else. The fire was intense and it devasted a home that the family had lived in for more than 20 years.

Gordy Fields says it took a minute and a half for his home of two decades to erupt in flames.

“And a minute and a half or even five minutes when you’re playing goes by really, really fast,” he said. “But when you’re standing, watching your life burn, it’s the longest five minutes of your life.”

Fields, his 10-year-old son and the family dog were in separate rooms when the fire started.

Fields was replacing a light bulb when his son ran in to tell him an outlet in another room had shorted. He smelled smoke, turned off the power and called Puget Sound Energy.

“And then he told Gordy to turn it back on right?” asked his wife, Wendi.

“Right,” said Fields. “As I was walking in to do a check inside, the door blew off. And when it blew out, I could see the whole room was engulfed.”

Wendi returned home minutes after the fire crews arrived.

“I got here a couple of minutes after the firemen and it was,” she said her voice trailing off.

“And the whole thing was up,” said Gordy.

“Look at those up there,” said Wendi, pointing.  “Look at the trees from the damage from the heat.”

Both are longtime nurses and had a “Go Bag” for emergencies.

“It burned, all burned,” Wendi said. “The cash. All the supplies we had for our backup. You know what I mean.”

“All I can say is my wife is safe,” said Gordy. “My son is safe.  No one got hurt except for a second-degree burn from something melting. It’s all, I mean that’s nothing.”

But what has been something is how their community has stepped in to help.

“It’s just so humbling,” Wendi said. “Like this is so, so incredible.”

Puget Sound Energy is investigating its role in all of this and did not provide a statement to KIRO 7.

Meanwhile, friends have started a GoFundMe account for this family.

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