Richland man catches neighbor’s house on fire while burning weeds

A small fire to burn some weeds turned into a two-alarm house blaze Sunday when embers ignited some bushes in a Richland neighborhood.

A man was monitoring a small burn pile on his property on the 2100 block of Cascade Avenue when it spread to some arborvitae bushes and then to his neighbor’s house shortly after 4:30 p.m., Richland Battalion Chief Ron Duncan said.

While arborvitae often look green on the outside, they have a lot of dead and dry material in the middle, making them highly flammable.

On Sunday, flames from the shrubs soared 30 to 40 feet into the air, said Duncan.

The fire spread to the neighbor’s attic, heavily damaging the roof and attic, he said. Firefighters managed to keep it from destroying the rest of the house.

Two neighbors were home at the time but got outside safely.

Richland firefighters were helped by Kennewick and Pasco fire departments and Benton County fire districts 2 and 4.

Duncan said the man who was burning weeds was monitoring the fire but just didn’t realize how fast the flames would spread and how dangerous arborvitae are in the Tri-Cities dry climate.