Tri-Cities Boy Scout practicing fire starting skills likely to blame for igniting his house

A Boy Scout practicing fire starting skills likely sparked the fire that burned part of his family’s house on Saturday.

A driver on the 8700 block of Hood Avenue saw smoke coming from the house about 6:25 p.m. and stopped to alert the family that their house was on fire, said Kennewick Fire Chief Chad Michael in a news release.

Fire crews from Kennewick, Richland and Benton County arrived within 5 minutes to find a significant amount of fire and smoke coming from the house.

The fire had spread to a neighbor’s storage shed and was threatening to ignite another house, said Michael.

Firefighters stopped the fire from spreading, and as more fire crews arrived, they were sent inside the first house to put out the fire and make sure no one was still inside, he said. Everyone had gotten out safely.

The homeowners told fire officials that their son had been practicing starting fires on a concrete patio in their backyard for his Boy Scout training.

“It is believed that some sparks from the small practice fire may have spread to nearby combustible materials when he was extinguishing the fire. The cause will be further investigated to confirm this as the source of the fire,” said Michael.

He said firefighting crews were challenged by several different void spaces in the house where smoke and fire could spread and hide, making the firefighting extremely labor intensive.

And Saturday’s 20-25 mph winds spread the flames quickly before fire crews arrived.

The fire danger in the Tri-Cities region is rated as extreme, and Michael reminded people to be very cautious in all activities to ensure fires are not unintentionally started.