Tri-Cities houses, shop, cars and trees burned after wind spreads fire pit embers

Fire scorched the outside of houses and a shop and destroyed cars Saturday in Kennewick after fire pit embers were carried by the wind.

Firefighters were called out at 3:15 p.m. to a report of heavy smoke and arborvitae trees on fire next to a home on the 4500 block of West Klamath Ave.

They arrived to find 14-foot arborvitaes burning and the flames threatening two houses and a shop on three nearby properties.

The fire took 22 minutes to bring under control.

It spread to the exterior of homes at 4514 and 4520 W. Klamath Ave., but firefighters were able to prevent the fire from damaging the houses’ interiors.

A shop at 4503 W. Metaline also had exterior damage and several cars parked along the arborvitaes were destroyed.

Earlier in the day the residents of a Klamath Avenue home had been burning in a fire pit on their property and thought the fire was extinguished.

But embers from the fire pit were blown into the arborvitaes, with the wind then spreading the fire to nearby buildings, according to the Kennewick Fire Department.

One person inhaled smoke trying to fight the fire before Kennewick fire crews arrived and was treated on scene by paramedics. No firefighters were injured.

Firefighters from Richland, Wash., and Benton County Fire District 1 assisted at the fire.

The Kennewick Fire Department reminds city residents not to use fire pits on windy days.