Fire destroys Skamokawa house

Flames still burned Friday morning at the house of Stewart and Ginger Moonen in Skamokawa. Firemen were unable to extinguish a chimney fire that got into the vaulted ceiling. Photo by Rick Nelson. A fire in the ceiling burned the Moonen family residence in East Valley last Thursday evening.

Stewart Moonen, former chief of the District 4 Fire Department and a current member of the Skamokawa Fire Department Board of Commissioners, said Friday the fire apparently started as a chimney fire from a woodstove.

During their dinner, he said, the family had smelled smoke but attributed it to shifting outside winds blowing smoke from the chimney into the house.

However, his wife Ginger later reported hearing a crackling, and after they turned off their television, Moonen, too, could hear the noise.

"I looked up at the ceiling by the chimney and saw flames," he said.

They called for the fire department.

Skamokawa firemen and their equipment were at a smoke drill at State Road on Puget Island with firemen from Cathlamet, District 4 and Puget Island departments.

When the Skamokawa firemen arrived at the Moonen residence, the blaze had fully engulfed the house. Other departments were summoned to assist.

Because of the structure of joists in the vaulted ceiling, firemen found it very difficult to fight the fire, Moonen said. There was no open attic space, and the fire was burning in the sealed space between the joists.

"At one point, the chiefs and I got together and decided to go into salvage mode and stop fighting the fire," he said.

The firemen opened windows and doors and began passing as many belongings and furnishings as possible out of the house to be carried to the nearby garage.

The firemen were able to save much of the family's clothing and possessions, Moonen said.

"I can't say enough about the response," Moonen said. "The fire fighters were terrific, and just about every neighbor in the valley showed up to help."

Moonen planned to bring in a fifth wheel trailer for temporary quarters while the house, a double-wide mobile home, is replaced.

A fund for the Moonens has been set up at the Bank of the Pacific in Cathlamet.