by Dixie A. Walter
      September 18, 2006

        The terrible and shocking news that three of Eatonville's young people had been killed during a horrific fire in the early morning hours Sunday in Tacoma began to spread like a dark cloud across the area Sunday morning. The fire took place in Tacoma's Fern Hill neighborhood. It was reported around 3 a.m., and quickly consumed the old home where the two men and one young woman lost their lives. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's office released the names of  victims Monday -  Suzanne Surface, 19, a member of the Fitzer family and a student at Eastern Washington University,  David Sawyer, 22 and Nathan Hoffman, 22. 
      Although six other young people, including home owner Aaron Martin, were in the house and survived, the three Eatonville High grads who perished were in an upstairs attic-type room and could not escape. Early reports say all the people who were at the party were Eatonville High graduates.
      Rescue attempts by neighbors and firefighters failed because of the intensity of the flames and suffocating smoke. One neighbor tried to reach the trapped kids with a ladder but the heat was so intense he wasn't able to aid the victims. The medical examiner said the three young friends died of smoke inhalation.
      Authorities believe the fire started from two citronella candles, supposed to deter insects, which were left burning on the deck after the kids went to bed. Video from a cell phone shows fire devouring the house pretty quickly. The history-making drought the area has been going through possibly led to the speed by which the fire traveled. Neighbors reported seeing windows blow out and flames lighting up the night sky.
      Throughout the day heartbreaking details filtered into homes, shops, cafes and churches via e-mail, phones, television. Little by little the community learned which families were devastated by the loss of their children. By mid-afternoon most people knew their names. The victims were the kids of  families who have been around the area for a very, very long time. Families whom just about everyone knows. 
     Small towns are wonderful in many and varied ways. This town is no different. However, one of the drawbacks to small town living is when a great devastation occurs among friends and families. Then we all feel some of the pain. None of us who hasn't gone through the great devastation of losing a child can ever fully understand what parents who have gone through that nightmare endure. 
     Just about anyone who has lived in this area for a length of time knows the families and many know all of the families. I attended a planning commission meeting tonight. During a break and after the meeting several of us discussed the terrible deaths of the three people, all in the beginning  stages of young adulthood. All with promising lives to look forward to. 
     Some of the men I talked with were close friends of the bereaved parents, and worried so about how they were able to hold up over something so overwhelmingly shocking to heart, mind and spirit. The untimely and unnecessary deaths of these three Eatonville High friends has an impact on the community which will never be altered. One untimely death reaches across the community to a wide web of friends, family, extended family. Three untimely deaths spread a much wider web of sorrow and pain across almost the entire community. Everyone is touched by the sorrow.
     What can we do to help our friends and neighbors through this time of tears and shock? We can share some of their pain with our support and prayers, and understand that we will never be the same again. We will never forget that agonizing day when we lost three of our own.
     The last known multiple deaths by fire in Tacoma were in 1984. The last time Eatonville was hit by multiple deaths by fire was sometime in the early 1960s when three elementary school children died in a house fire on Orchard Avenue North.

Stuffed Toys Help the Grieving Process

                                                                                                                (photo by Bob Walter)

     By Monday afternoon grieving friends began this memorial to those who died so tragically during the fire Sunday. Eatonville schools offered counseling and flew the flag at half staff.

Cause of Fire Still Under Investigation...

      September 20, 2006

     Although Tacoma fire investigators believe the cause of the deadly fire which took the lives of three Eatonville Alumni was an accident  they now question the cause. Initially it was surmised that citronella candles started the inferno, after interviewing survivors they now believe the fire was started in another manner. Even though smoke detectors warned the young people of the threat only those on the first floor escaped. The three who died were unable to escape.