A Kelso couple lost their home to a house fire Friday while they were out at a doctor’s appointment, according to firefighters.
Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue and Cowlitz County Fire District 5 responded to the fire around 3:15 p.m. Friday. Neighbors and a school bus driver reported the blaze in the 300 block of Ross Road in Kelso.
The neighbors told 911 dispatchers that the elderly couple who lived there might still be inside, according to a Cowlitz 2 press release.
Firefighters searched the house for people and used multiple hose lines to battle the flames, the release says. Crews later were “relived to hear” from the residents’ family, who said the couple was out of the house at a doctor’s appointment, according to the release.
Crews extinguished the blaze in about 40 minutes, the release says. The two fire departments sent three fire engines, two water tenders, a medic unit, a brush engine and a chief officer.