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SUV total loss after farm field fire
ANOTHER NIGHT OF VOLUNTEER WORK – Firefighters from the La Conner (in brown) and Fire District 13 (black) fire departments answered the call last Tuesday night. Working together, they put out the fully enflamed SUV in less than 10 minutes. No one associated with the vehicle was found.
Why an SUV was in a farm field just north of La Conner and who set it on fire last Tuesday night, Nov. 22 remains a mystery, but it is certain that it was totally engulfed in flames by the time Fire District 13 and La Conner fire department trucks arrived about 9:20 p.m. FD 13 responded first to the 911 call and toned out La Conner, requesting assistance. La Conner staff initially took command, FD 13 Chief Wood Weiss reported.
Two Swinomish Tribal Police cars were first on the scene after the fire was called in at 9:16 p.m. The officers provided traffic control on La Conner Whitney Road on both sides of Sullivan Slough. The vehicle was in a farm field about 50 feet in on the west side of the road just north of the slough.
By 9:25 p.m. two firefighters from each department were spraying water on the vehicle, La Conner firefighters on the south side and the FD 13 crew on the north side. Within 10 minutes the fire was out and they stopped spraying.
Weiss brought the department's tender to supply the two fire trucks with 3,000 gallons more water.
Fire department staff looked in the vehicle and the slough for bodies but there were none. Wood reported no one associated with the vehicle was at the scene and that no license plate was on the vehicle.
A Skagit County Sheriff's Office deputy arrived about 9:53 p.m. Sgt. Beau Montgomery emailed the Weekly News Monday that "No one associated to the vehicle was located around it by law enforcement. Nothing else of evidentiary value was found on scene. The vehicle was then towed by a tow company."
FD 13 Assistant Chief Avery ran incident command. Weiss assumed command for the wrap-up. He noted La Conner's prompt response, the "excellent effective teamwork exhibited by both districts" and thanked the Swinomish Tribal Police for providing traffic control.
Weiss was right: The vehicle was a total loss. Monday the Sheriff's Office had no information on cause or motive. The Skagit County Fire Marshal's staff were not called to the scene.
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