2 Wenatchee homes burn after tree fire spreads

Two unoccupied Wenatchee homes caught fire Wednesday morning after a tree fire spread to the structures.

The Wenatchee Valley Fire Department responded to a call of a home on fire at 6:55 a.m. at the 900 block of S. Mission St. in Wenatchee, according to Chief Brian Brett.

When crews arrived, they discovered flames had spread to a second unoccupied home next to the original structure. Both homes were boarded up and believed to be unoccupied.

Firefighters searched the structures and found no one inside.

Brett said one of the homes had nine layers of roofing, making the fire difficult to extinguish.

The cause remains under investigation, but officials believe the fire may have started near a burning tree behind the homes.

"The tree that was on fire was behind the two houses close to them, and in the middle of the two of them, so if that, in fact, was the origin of the fire," Brett said. "It just spread into both houses simultaneously or it got into one and they were so, they're so close together. Their spacing is like maybe five feet apart."

Brett said it was too early to determine whether the homes were total losses.

"One of them I don't believe to be at all. The second one might be questionable," he said.

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