Smoking Near Indoor Fireworks Blew Up a Whidbey Island House and Sent Firefighters to Hospital
A single cigarette. Seven hundred pounds of fireworks. And a neighborhood that will never look the same.
On the afternoon of June 24, what started as a reported house fire on Smugglers Cove Road near Lagoon Point, Whidbey Island, turned into one of the most terrifying residential explosions the area has seen in years.
Firefighters from Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue arrived at the scene and were standing just 20 feet away when the home exploded.
The Blast Hit Like a Wall
Neighbors described the sound as something between a massive engine backfire and an earthquake. Steve Bondelid, who lives near the site, said he felt the impact in his chest from inside his own home.
Carol Lewellen, a resident since 2013, was knitting on her front porch when she heard repeated explosions, followed by a massive black cloud of smoke rising into the air.
The explosion was powerful enough to be heard and felt for miles.
Three Firefighters Went Down
The blast threw one firefighter into a truck and knocked another to the ground. A third was at a fire hydrant, trying to connect a hose, when the explosion hit him directly.
Two were transported to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. The third, most seriously injured, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He may lose a finger.
As KOMO News reported, Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue Chief Jerry Helm put it simply: “You change the timetable on this by a second or two either way, and the outcome would be very different.”
All three are in stable condition. Two homeowners also drove themselves to the hospital and are expected to recover.
This kind of incident is not as rare as people think. Just weeks ago, a home in Greenbank also went up in flames when improperly stored materials ignited inside the house, a story that has some unsettling parallels to what happened here.
Two Homes Gone. One Family Displaced.
The original home, where the fireworks were stored, was completely destroyed. The blast then caught the neighboring home on fire and that one was destroyed too. A third home sustained significant damage.
One of those neighbors was Tanya Hernandez. She came home to cabinets off the walls, dishes shattered, and wedding pictures in pieces on the floor.
Firefighters managed to rescue her five dogs before the fire reached her property. “Everything else is replaceable,” she said.
A GoFundMe has been set up for her family, and a separate one for the injured firefighters. The community has shown up.
This isn’t the first time firefighters have walked into a scene that turned dangerous faster than expected. In a recent Vilano Beach incident, crews actually ran out of water mid-response while a home burned, leaving neighbors furious and demanding answers.
What keeps coming up in these stories is how fast things can go wrong once the first responders arrive.
If this kind of story makes you think twice about fire safety in residential areas, you’re not alone. There’s a community discussing exactly these incidents over on a WhatsApp channel covering home safety news as it breaks.
Why This Matters
This wasn’t a freak accident. It was a preventable one.
According to Island County’s official fireworks regulations, fireworks are banned on private property without permission, and specific types including firecrackers, rockets, and mortar fireworks are outright illegal in the county.
Nationally, fireworks trigger an average of 18,500 fires every year, including 1,300 structure fires.
Seven hundred pounds of fireworks stored inside a home, with people smoking nearby, is not a miscalculation. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
Fire officials confirmed the homeowners were stockpiling for a private event. Under Washington State law (RCW 70.77.485), possessing one pound or more of fireworks illegally is a gross misdemeanor. At 700 pounds, investigators are now weighing criminal charges.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Region 3 Arson Task Force are both actively investigating. No arrests have been made yet.
What You Need to Know
Three firefighters injured, one possibly losing a finger. Two homes destroyed. One family displaced. An investigation that could end in criminal charges.
This is the real cost of treating explosives like storage items.
And the pattern is bigger than one incident. In a separate case out of Henderson, a house fire sent one man to the hospital and forced a daycare full of children to evacuate, a reminder that when homes catch fire, it is never just the homeowner at risk.
Wrapping Up
If you or someone you know is storing fireworks at home in bulk, this story is a direct warning. It does not take much. A spark. A cigarette. A second.
What is your take on this? Should storing this quantity of fireworks in a residential area carry automatic criminal charges, or is this being treated too harshly? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only, based on reports available at the time of publication. The investigation is ongoing and details may change.
