Good Samaritan Neighbor Saves Cascade Covenant Church from Major Fire

“Neighbors look out for each other.”

It’s a simple idea… something that is sometimes easier to say than live, but, without a doubt, the importance of neighbors is something I’ve learned during our 11 years in the Snoqualmie Valley.

That simple neighborly idea is something that played out on Friday, December 14th, at Cascade Covenant Church in North Bend.

That was the night a candle was mistakenly left burning when an event finished in the  church’s Fireside Room.  Josh, a neighbor of Cascade Covenant, noticed a fire beginning in the south window where that candle was burning.  The church was empty at the time.

Standing in front of the burning window, Josh called 911, telling the dispatcher a fire was starting and the church would burn down.  Suspecting firefighters wouldn’t arrive before a major fire erupted,  he ran home, grabbed a bucket of water and headed back to the window where the fire was growing.

According to Pastor John Jenks, Josh (not a church-goer), grabbed a rock and thought, “Oh Holy Father I know I don’t want to break your window, but BOOM (throwing rock into window), but we don’t want the whole building burning down.”

With the burning window broken, Josh was able to extinguish his neighbor’s fire.  Even afterward, Pastor John said Josh was apologetic for breaking the church window.

During the following Sunday morning sermon, Pastor John called Josh a hero of Cascade Covenant Church.  Had that fire gotten larger, there would’ve been much more damage than just a broken window and burned windowsill and vinyl window frame.  If the fire had grown, it would’ve activated building’s sprinkler system, meaning more fire damage and thousands of dollars of water clean up, including all new carpets.

Even if they don’t know each other, like Josh and Cascade Covenant, neighbors still look out for each other.