VIDEO: A Ridgefield family is looking for a new place to live after a fire destroyed the home they had been renting the last four years. Preston Pearson lived at the home along with his wife, Angie, and their six children — five girls and a boy, ages 8 to 16.

“Lot of memories here man. Lotta good times.” Pearson said from inside the home. The fire started late in the evening Friday night. He says his daughter had noticed a burning smell from the back of the house and alerted him.

Pearson said he tried to put the fire out with a hose but says it was burning too fast: “Just blazing within 30 seconds.” As everyone ran outside, he says his wife couldn’t find one of his daughters and thought she was still inside. Preston says he ran back in and upstairs to one of the bedrooms.

“As soon as I come back in here, you hear explosions in the backyard. This window shattered,” he said, pointing to a window on the staircase. “I just run upstairs and I don’t see anybody.” Turns out, everyone had made it out safely, except their dog, Mila, who died and was found later hiding under a bed. Mila was their 8-month-old Golden Labradoodle puppy who Preston said “had so much energy and was full of love.”

KGW-TV NBC 8 Portland

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VIDEO: Fire officials released a report Tuesday confirming that June’s Upriver Fire began in a vacant home, but noted that the exact cause remains “undetermined.” An investigation by Spokane County Fire District 9 and the Washington Department of Natural Resources found that the fire originated at a home along North Upriver Bend Lane before spreading to other structures and nearby wildland.

Property owner Robert Dubrasik told investigators the house had been vacant since 1996, though he repaired its roof in 2024 and regularly paid for electricity. Officials say they were “unable to determine an ignition source,” but pointed to an electrical failure and a potential break-in as “possible hypotheses.” “While the owner kept the main breaker switch off, we found [the] breaker panel with the breaker in the ‘on’ position,” the report read.

Investigators also said the fire “could have been started by someone (homeless or recreationalist) who broke into the house.” The property is located near several homeless encampments, and investigators say recreationalists start campfires that are “poorly” or “never” extinguished and eventually abandoned.

“We were not able to recover enough data from the scene to prove a human start,” investigators added. “However, fire damage may have destroyed such evidence, so we cannot disprove those hypotheses either.”
The report also confirmed that west-southwest winds drove the fire, which burned 212 acres.

KTVB-TV NBC 7 Boise

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A Durham firefighter died Thursday morning battling a large building fire near South Miami Boulevard. Two others were injured but are expected to recover, officials said.

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Kansas' Liberal Fire Protection District opened its first station.

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Bellefonte Borough Council delayed a decision on a $2.07 million aerial ladder truck for Undine Fire Company while it seeks firm cost commitments from Spring and Benner townships.

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