VIFR crews battle raging house fire early Sunday morning
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Update: The family has posted a fundraiser, which you can find at gofund.me/f4ea83b4.
Vashon Island Fire & Rescue crews responded to a roaring house fire on Sunday which, unfortunately, resulted in the total loss of the home.
Crews attended to the fire, which occurred at a 153rd Street home off of Vashon Highway, for hours. VIFR Interim Fire Chief Ben Davidson, along with both engines 355 and 356 responded to the fire for a total of six personnel, two volunteer firefighters and two volunteer support staff — a total of 11 responders.
Thankfully, no humans suffered any physical injuries from the incident, the chief said. However, Jeannette Ellison, who lived at and owned the home with her husband and retired veteran Carlos Ellison, said that five puppies were held inside crates at the time in the house and did not survive.
The parents of the puppies were not found, so “there’s a tiny chance they got out,” Ellison said. Those dogs are an American Stafferton Bull Terrier and a mix of that breed and dachshund.
Ellison her son may set up a GoFundMe page for those who wish to donate to help the family. The Beachcomber will share a link to that page when it is available.
The fire started accidentally on the deck of the house, Ellison said. Though he is still waiting on more information about the fire’s cause, Davidson also confirmed that it appears to have started unintentionally.
Though the house is a loss, “I’d like to really thank the fire department for containing it to my house and not letting it spread to neighbors,” Ellison said.
911 dispatch was alerted of the fire at 12:42 a.m., and the VIFR crew was dispatched a minute later. Rolling out of bed and into their trucks, the firefighters were on scene by 12:50 a.m., at which time they began work to contain the fire.
They battled the fire for hours, and the scene was finally cleared around 4:30 a.m., Davidson said. Crews afterward cleaned up hot spots, kept an eye on the property and waited for a fire investigator to arrive on the first ferry available from Seattle.
“We had a good, fast response, but by the time they got here, it was fully involved,” Davidson said. “Even if you get it out quick, the damage to the interior is usually a total loss at that point.”
A detached garage on the property suffered some damage as well, Davidson said.
He added that VIFR expresses sympathy to the family for the loss of their home and and is happy to help them if they need any further assistance.
Davidson thanked volunteer firefighters and Vashon residents Jim Wescott and Derek Schin and volunteer EMT and support member Jeff Cohen, along with three new volunteer support members who recently started with Vashon Fire — one of whom is Ed Davidson, Ben Davidson’s brother. Islander firefighters Josh Munger and Brian Lee, and island paramedic Mark Radford also responded to the call. Islander Wes Peterson, a Puget Sound Energy lineman, responded to help with utilities at the call.
Davidson also thanked the quick thinking of neighbors who called 911: “In order for for us to be dispatched, we need somebody to call 911,” he said.
“In this instance, the neighbors, I believe, called 911 prior to the homeowner — who wasn’t aware yet — and that helps with our response time,” Davidson said. “Usually it’s the homeowner, but if it’s the middle of night and somebody’s sleeping, they might not know that part of their home is on fire. We’ve had that happen before. We’ve shown up to a house before where somebody had a chimney fire and they didn’t even know it. A passerby had called us.”
