Tri-Citian burned when fireworks blew up inside house. It was one of many July 4 fires

A Richland man was seriously hurt when a fireworks mortar blew up inside his home Saturday night.

Firefighters across the Tri-Cities were busy responding to one fire after another from the afternoon of July 4 into the early morning hours Sunday.

In Kennewick a commercial auto repair shop building was destroyed in a fire that was reported about 3:45 a.m. Sunday.

The Richland house fire at 1705 Gray Street was reported at 8:42 p.m.

Two people were in the house when the fire started, a woman with limited mobility because of health issues and her 41 year old son, said Richland Battalion Chief Ron Duncan.

Both were out of the house when firefighters arrived and found a major blaze underway.

The son was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with significant injuries, Duncan said.

The house, a prefab from the days when Richland was a federal government town supporting the Hanford nuclear reservation, was destroyed.

It was the second Richland “alphabet house” built by the federal government to be destroyed by fire in a week. On Thursday an “A” house on the 1300 block of Thayer Drive burned.

Richland firefighters also fought a significant grass fire in the Country Ridge neighborhood on the holiday, Duncan said.

The fire department received 16 calls, mostly for fires, between 8:30 p.m. and midnight. For the 24 hour shift that began at 8 a.m. July 4, firefighters responded to 41 calls.

“My crews didn’t sleep all night,” Duncan said.

Other Tri-Cities fires

The cause of the Finley auto shop fire fought by the Kennewick Fire Department has not been determined.

The steel structure was destroyed, along with at least four vehicles inside.

It was near Highway 397 and East 10th Avenue in east Kennewick and part of Highway 397 was closed for nearly three hours, reopening at about 6:30 a.m.

Kennewick firefighters also were called to a fire that burned backyard sheds early Sunday morning near Fourth Avenue and Yelm Street.

Firefighters responded to 44 calls in the 24 hours starting at 8 a.m. on July 4, with about six to eight of those fireworks related.

Pasco firefighters also were busy, with about a dozen calls from 9 p.m. to midnight on July 4, said Ben Shearer, fire department spokesman.

The calls included a house fire on the 1500 block of Pearl Street at 11:30 p.m. Saturday, with the cause not related to the holiday, Shearer said.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire to one room and its contents.

Some of the fires that Pasco firefighters responded to were grass and shrub fires, after people were not careful about where they set off fireworks, Shearer said.

On Saturday afternoon, Benton County Fire District 2 crews fought a large grass fire along Webber Canyon Road south of Benton City.

The fire was threatening nearby agricultural land, but firefighters were able to contain it to a canyon by 5 p.m.

This story was originally published July 5, 2020 at 11:56 AM.