Based on the five distinct burn spots in a row along State Route 20 two miles outside Port Townsend, fire investigators believe a passing vehicle may have emitted sparks that caught the dry grass and …
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Firefighters stopped this roadside fire before it got near a house. Five separate blazes ignited along a 100-yard stretch of State Route 20 outside Port Townsend on July 16, believed to have been from sparks emitted by a passing vehicle.
Based on the five distinct burn spots in a row along State Route 20 two miles outside Port Townsend, fire investigators believe a passing vehicle may have emitted sparks that caught the dry grass and brush on fire Thursday afternoon.
According to East Jefferson Fire Rescue, the unknown vehicle spread fire about 100 yards along the highway's east side just south of the Old Fort Townsend Road intersection.
EJFR was dispatched to the fires at 1:17 p.m., July 16 after passers-by called 911. Emergency responders arrived to find five small fires burning along the highway's east side. Members of a Washington Department of Transportation road crew were spraying the fire with water from a tank on their vehicle.
Firefighters had the flames knocked down within 10 minutes and spent the next hour overhauling the sites to ensure the fires were completely extinguished, according to EJFR. Fire spread into the yards of two houses along the highway, partially burning a hedge.
Both lanes of traffic on SR 20 were blocked for about 50 minutes during the response.
A total of 15 firefighters from EJFR and Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue responded to the fires.
The burn ban remains in effect for all areas of East Jefferson County, and includes campfires, beach fires and yard waste burning.
(This news story appeared July 16 on ptleader.com.)
