Fire destroys barn on Norway Hill in Bothell

Published 5:58 pm Monday, March 25, 2013

Smoke could be seen for miles as fire tore through a barn on Norway Hill in Bothell Monday afternoon. No one was injured in the blaze and the owners believe that most of the animals, including several horses, got out of harm’s way.

“I don’t know how it started but I was over there (by the house) when I heard a large pop,” said Curtis Raye, who lives on the property. “Her boyfriend hurried to get all the horses out and I tried to rip down the fences so they could get out into the pasture.”

The homeowner was too distraught to speak to reporters.

Woodinville Fire and Rescue received the call at 3:40 p.m. for the fire in the 16500 block of 107 Ave. N.E.

“It was first reported as a structure fire and then updated to be a barn fire,” said Woodinville Fire spokesperson David Weed. “The horses were located in an attached area but not inside the barn and none were injured.”

Weed said that the first crews attacked the fire in the barn as flames shot high into the sky. Subsequent crews from Kirkland and Bothell Fire protected the house on the spacial property set on the north side of the hill.

“There was definitely some danger of the fire spreading for a period of time,” said Weed. “Hay or any material like that makes our job a lot harder.”

Raye said he thought there were chickens in the barn and the family did not know if firefighters were able to save them.

“The goats had babies not too long ago but they weren’t in the barn,” said Raye, noting that they were let out earlier in the morning. “The whole top floor of the barn is hay.”

The structure was still smoldering nearing 6 p.m. and firefighters were content to let the structure, fueled by all the hay, burn itself out after pouring water on the blaze for two hours. Firefighters stayed on the scene to knock down any flames.

“It will take a couple of hours to get this mopped up,” said Weed.

Raye said that the main home on the property caught fire a few years ago and he estimated that the barn is about 1,600 square feet combined with the upper and bottom floors.

King County Fire will investigate the cause of the fire and the monetary damage for the barn.