House damaged, but nobody injured, in early morning house fire

A Brewster residence lost its kitchen and suffered smoke and water damage to the rest of the house in an early morning fire Saturday, Nov. 15. No one was injured.

The house was occupied by Mario Camacho, his wife and the family's three children; they were all out of the residence when firefighters arrived, said Brewster Fire Chief Mike Webster.

"Upon arrival at the scene there was heavy smoke coming from three sides of the structure, no flames visible," Webster wrote. "When I first walked around the structure, flames were just starting to roll across the kitchen ceiling toward an open window on the east side of the house. The first engine made a quick shot through the open window to cool the fire and then did an interior attack through the back door. The fire was contained very quickly." Webster said the fire damage was contained to the kitchen; the rest of the house suffered heat, smoke and water damage. The fire was reported about 4:40 p.m.

"The fire started along a wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. Fire started behind the stove in the kitchen, down close to the floor," Webster wrote. "On the opposite side of the wall, in the living room, there was a fireplace. The chimney went up the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. Possible cause could've been a weak spot in the chimney that allowed heat to extend into the wall, or another possible cause could've been an electrical problem with the range outlet or a combination of the two. We were able to determine where the fire started but were unable to determine what the exact cause was."

Two engines from Brewster, two from Pateros, one from Methow and one from Rocky Butte responded to the fire, a total of 22 firefighters. They were on the scene until about 7:30 a.m. Ambulance personnel from Douglas Okanogan Fire District No. 15 provided standby assistance, Webster said, and Okanogan County PUD workers disconnected the electricity.