RIDGEFIELD, Wash. — One person was killed by a morning fire in a barn north of Ridgefield on June 3. A resident of the property also suffered a medical emergency and was treated by firefighters at the scene, but it was not directly related to the fire, according to Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue.
The Clark County Medical Examiner's Office identified the person killed as 44-year-old Melissa Adams. Adams's cause of death was "smoke inhalation and thermal injuries," but the manner of death remains undetermined, according to the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office on Aug. 2.
Fire crews arrived at the property on Northwest 51st Avenue at 7:09 a.m. and found what the fire department described in a news release as "a large barn/outbuilding fully involved in flames," and saw that the fire had spread to a car and RV parked next to the structure.
Bystanders told the crews that one person may still be inside the building. Firefighters had to restrain a resident of the property from attempting to enter the building because, according to the news release, "the level of fire involvement would have led to certain death of anyone making entry without protective gear."
The building was too structurally damaged for firefighters to enter, so they spayed water from the outside to attack the main building fire and put out the car and RV fires. They also released several chickens from a nearby coop that was in danger of catching fire too. The crews used three water tankers to shuttle water from the nearest hydrant about a mile away.
An "elderly resident" of the house on the property suffered a medical emergency at about 8:19 a.m. and was treated by firefighter paramedics at the scene before being taken to the hospital. The news release did not say how many residents live at the property or whether it was the same resident who had previously attempted to enter the barn.
Firefighters got the blaze under control about 10 minutes later, and investigators from the Clark County Fire Marshal's Office were able to enter. They found one person dead inside the building.
The crews remained on scene until the midafternoon to put out hot spots, according to the news release, with help from a Clark County Public Works excavator to make sure there are no hidden flames remaining. The news release did not mention any possible cause of the fire, but said the fire remains under investigation by the Fire Marshal's Office.
