Dog saves sleeping couple in burning 2nd-story apartment. Fires rage across Tri-Cities

A Kennewick couple were sleeping in their Cleveland Street apartment when their dog Willow began barking early Thursday.

They initially thought it was nothing, but when they looked out the door, they saw flames coming through the front windows of their second-story apartment.

With flames between them and the staircase, they needed a way out.

“My boyfriend told me to get the rope,” said Izabeau Pearston, 26. “Then he tied off the rope on the bed and rappelled down.”

She lowered Willow down, and by the time Pearston followed, the apartment was full of black smoke.

A neighbor who jumped from the second floor to the lawn suffered an injured back.

The fire that destroyed the four-plex on 1000 block of North Cleveland Street off Canal Drive was just one of four fires fanned by gusts up to 25 mph that destroyed homes and outbuildings and blackened acres of grass and wildland in the Tri-Cities area.

That included a three-alarm blaze in West Richland that firefighters had to scramble to control as it lit up the sky Wednesday night and nearly forced 30 homes to evacuate.

Also, a devastating blaze gutted a nearly 6,000-square-foot home in the Hills West area of south Richland and a 15-acre fire in Finley destroyed a barn.

Earlier in the day, Benton County Fire District 2 crews fought two smaller wildland fires.

The fires stretched Tri-City firefighters thin as they found themselves driving from one to another to help keep them from spreading.

Wildfire season in the Tri-Cities is in full swing after a week of temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above average that dried out grass and sagebrush, said Ben Shearer, the public information officer for Benton County Fire District 4.

“It’s a little early, but not unexpected,” he told the Tri-City Herald. “We had all that rain this spring, now it’s been hot and dry. All it takes is a spark. .... All of the fuels are mid-summer season dry.”

One person was injured jumping from a second floor apartment

The causes of the fires have not been determined.

West Richland brush fire

Erratic winds and difficult terrain made it hard for firefighters to get ahead of a blaze in West Richland that could be seen for miles Wednesday night.

It broke out near the intersection of Clark Court and Northlake Drive about 8 p.m. and initially threatened four homes.

“The wind kept changing direction,” Shearer said. “(The fire was going) east, then south then east and jumped the irrigation canal.”

Since there wasn’t a direct road into where the fire was, the firefighters had to drive around the burning area to get ahead of the flames and protect houses.

In all, they asked residents in at least 30 homes to prepare to evacuate. A shelter was opened at the Temple Baptist Church, but no one needed it.

The fire escalated to three alarms as firefighters from across the region were called in to help. Shearer said they had firefighters from Richland, Pasco and Kennewick, all of the Benton County fire districts and West Benton Fire Rescue helping. At one point, Shearer counted 13 fire engines.

They had some luck because most of the houses had green lawns that kept the flames from burning faster up to the buildings.

Residents were able to return to their homes by midnight but fire crews continued to monitor the area Thursday for any flareups.

Richland house fire

Richland firefighters were called about 2 a.m. to battle what ended up as a two-alarm house fire in the Hills West neighborhood of Richland.

Emergency dispatch reports show six people were evacuated from the large 6-bedroom home at 1166 Adair Drive. Fire burned much of the house and there were reports that some pets died.

Kennewick fire crews helped Richland fight the fire and kept it from spreading.

No one was reported injured, said Battalion Chief James Hempstead.

Finley brush fire

Benton County Fire District 1 was called out to 213504 East Game Farm Road at 1:50 a.m. to a barn and field on fire, Chief Scott LoParco told the Herald.

The fast moving blaze moved through pasture land and threatened three homes as it approached Game Farm Road. But firefighters were able to keep it from reaching the houses, he said.

Benton County sheriff’s deputies alerted people in the area to the danger but no official evacuation order was issued, LoParco said.

They were helped by Kennewick and Pasco fire departments, Franklin County Fire District 3, Benton County Fire District 2.

In total, the fire burned about 15 acres and was controlled by 3:30 a.m.

Kennewick apartment fire

Kennewick investigators are still piecing together what happened at the Cleveland Street four-plex where Pearston and Elijah Jackson, 32, lived.

By that time fire crews were called about 4:30 a.m., the front of the building and central staircase was engulfed in flames, Chief Chad Michael told the Tri-City Herald.

That left Pearston and Jackson and their second-story neighbors trapped. The neighbors ended up jumping from the second floor and was taken to a local hospital to be treated for a back injury.

Michael said they are still trying to determine if there were working smoke alarms in the apartments, but the person he spoke with didn’t hear any alarms.

A GoFundMe has been organized for one of the families who lost everything their apartment.

“We lost every worldly possession early this morning to faulty electrical in the apartment that has been our family home for 15 years,” Brian Parker wrote. Their pet cat Fuji was killed.

Firefighters were able to get the blaze out within 20 minutes. Pearston said the fire department arrived quickly.

Pearston, who left her home wearing pajamas, was able to get into the apartment to recover some clothes and important personal items.

“We have clothes to put on, but that was all after the fact,” she said. “We didn’t have anything but pajamas and a dog on a carabiner and a rope.”

“We’re trying to figure out what steps to take next,” she said, but for now she was glad that everyone was safe. And Willow, the dog that warned them, “will be spoiled for the rest of her days.”

This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 2:16 PM.