West Falls Church kitchen fire pushes five people out of their home

Five people were displaced yesterday (Tuesday) after a cooking-related fire partially destroyed their home in West Falls Church.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department units responded to a reported house fire in the 3200 block of Nealon Drive around 9:20 a.m. The Arlington County and City of Fairfax fire departments also got involved in the response.

In a blog post released this morning (Wednesday), the FCFRD says it determined that the fire was started by cooking oil in an unattended pan on the house’s stovetop:

Units arrived on the scene of a one-story, single-family home with fire showing from the roof. Crews quickly located the fire and extinguished it. There were no reported civilian or firefighter injuries.

Two occupants were home at the time of the fire. Both occupants were alerted to the fire by a neighbor who saw smoke coming from the attic. Both occupants self-evacuated and called 9-1-1. Smoke alarms were present but were not working due to a lack of batteries.

Fire Investigators determined that the fire was accidental in nature and started in the kitchen. The cause of the fire was the ignition of cooking oil from an unattended pan left on the stovetop.

The fire resulted in approximately $162,500 in property damages, according to FCFRD.