Family of 5 escape house fire near Tacoma on Fourth of July

It was a wake-up call Jeff Stice and his family did not expect this July 4th holiday weekend.

“The fire alarm went off right as I was getting everybody out of the house,” Stice said.

Just after 1 a.m. Monday morning, Pierce County Fire officials say the fire started in the power panel in the garage.

The flames intensified due to the three vehicles that were inside, including a Tesla.

“Everything in there was a fuel and it burned pretty ferociously,” says Fire Chief Cliff Mccullom. “This could have went really bad because there’s a bedroom right above that garage.”

Fire officials say the bedroom belongs to one of the family’s three sons, but he happened to be staying at a friend’s house when the fire started.

Crews had the blaze under control in just over three hours. One of the firefighters suffered smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion, and was transported to the hospital.

The parents and two kids who were inside made it out safely after smelling smoke and hearing the smoke detectors going off.

“Any fire that occurs at night, especially with families, getting them out of their house is the biggest priority,” Mccullom said. “The best early warning is a smoke detector that wakes people up and get them out.”

Stice says despite the damage, he’s thankful how the situation turned out for his family.

“They are doing okay,” Stice said. “They are safe, and that’s all that matters.”