Updated: English Hill Fire Started Near Power Strip

Update, 3:40 p.m., Dec. 5: Monday's 2-alarm house fire in the English Hill area started under a desk near a power strip and outlet, Sgt. Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

The blaze was "an accidental electrical fire," she said.

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Original story, Dec. 4: Fire officials are continuing to work to determine the cause of a two-alarm blaze that left approximately $700,000 in damage at a Redmond home on Monday evening.

Deputy Chief Russ Albertson of the Redmond Fire Department said the home, located in a gated community in the English Hill area, has been ruled as a total loss. The Red Cross is working to provide short-term housing for the displaced family, he said.

Firefighters were dispatched to the 13000 block of 167th Ave. NE at 9:13 p.m. on Monday evening. By the time emergency crews arrived, the unoccupied home was about 50 percent engulfed in flames.

A total of 42 firefighters from Redmond, Kirkland, Woodinville and Duvall responded to the scene and brought the blaze under control in about an hour, Albertson said. One Kirkland firefighter was injured by falling sheet rock and was subsequently treated and released at Evergreen Hospital.

Albertson said the residents had detected an "electrical smell" shortly before the fire and had unplugged some computer equipment before leaving to run an errand.

“And when they returned, then that’s when they found us there,” he said.