[1]Mattress next to wood stove is blamed for blaze near Morton. / Courtesy photo by Jay Birley
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A Morton area resident was hospitalized with burns to his hands after he tried to haul a burning mattress out the front door yesterday and rescue pets.
The ensuing fire in the one and half story house left as many as five young people who lived there together without a home, according to Fire Investigator Jay Birley.
“They’re all probably in their 20s,” Birley said, describing the roommates who shared the two-bedroom residence.
Birley was called about 6:30 p.m. yesterday to explore the cause of the blaze on state Route 508 near Morton said the “kids” who lived there had mattresses on the floors and one was in the living room near the wood stove.
“He was starting a fire in the wood stove and left the door cracked open so the fire would draft,” Birley said.
The young man was the only one home at the time and left to go do something and when he returned to the room, found the mattress on fire, Birley said.
Birley said he dragged it to the door but it wouldn’t fit through.
“He had to let the mattress go, right there at the door,” he said.
Birley said he understood the young man, whose name he didn’t share, then set about trying round up four dogs, at least three of which didn’t survive.
The worst of the damage was in the front room and at the door, he said, estimating perhaps $40,000 damage.