Kirkland resident Carol Miller and her three dogs retired to her bedroom Wednesday night to watch American Idol and fell asleep. When she awoke around 10 p.m. her dogs were gone and she was in the crawl space of her house.
“I heard a big boom and all of a sudden I saw sky,” said Miller on Thursday afternoon at her Kirkland home in the 12300 block of 105th Place N.E. “I thought lightning had hit my house. It was such a loud noise you would not believe it.”
Miller saw a fire and thought the lightning caught a tree in her backyard on fire. But she soon discovered that a yellow Hummer H2 had crashed into the corner of her Kirkland home where her bedroom was and it had caught on fire.
As a result of the crash, part of the floor under her bed collapsed, sending her and her mattress into the crawlspace of her house, essentially protecting her from life-threatening injuries.
The SUV came to a stop near a cherry tree in her backyard and she heard the couple inside the vehicle yelling for help as the inside of the vehicle filled with smoke and flames.
“I could’t get her out of the driver’s side,” said Miller, who had a sore back and neck on Thursday morning. “I had my (pajamas) on and no shoes. In a matter of seconds people were everywhere.”
Miller was so lucky that she didn’t even step on any glass while walking around the accident scene barefoot.
The Hummer contained a man and female driver, who allegedly fell asleep while driving west on N.E. 124th Ave. The SUV veered off the busy street in the Juanita Neighborhood, across two lanes, through the corner yard of one house, crossed 105 Place N.E., went through the carport of her neighbor’s house, through Miller’s new 6-foot fence and then through her bedroom.
“It blew out two walls,” said former Kirkland police officer Don Halgren, Miller’s boyfriend who she called over to the house as soon as the accident happened. “The speed limit on that road is 35 and they had to be going at least 50. These kinds of things don’t happen very often in Kirkland.”
The SUV, along with most of Miller’s bedroom, finally came to a rest after hitting a cherry tree in her backyard that the fire scorched.
Kirkland emergency response and most of Miller’s neighbors came running to the scene. The couple in the Hummer was transported to Evergreen Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The entire corner of Miller’s house was bulldozed by the SUV and most of the contents of her bedroom fell into the crawl space of her house, like her dresser, or into the backyard.
“The only thing that saved me was the mattress sliding down like a sled,” said Miller.
A section of the floor boards ended up about 20 feet into the backyard.
All of Miller’s dogs, Nolan, Chloe and Gunney were found unhurt, although Chloe had to be pulled out from under the house.
Damage to the vehicle is estimated at $40,000; damage to the structure and contents is estimated at $30,000.
One of the most amazing things about the crash is what the SUV missed on its line of trajectory, including: a large cedar tree, two road signs and the post of a neighboring home’s carport. But all involved are glad the SUV missed Miller.
“I called Don and told him that a car had crashed into the house and landed in the backyard,” said Miller, wondering if her boyfriend would even believe her. “I am just happy to be alive.”
Editor Carrie Wood contributed to this report.
