A quick burst of blazes kept East Jefferson Fire Rescue busy last Thursday with two unrelated fires in the district.
Just after midnight, neighbors called 911 reporting flames coming from a …
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A quick burst of blazes kept East Jefferson Fire Rescue busy last Thursday with two unrelated fires in the district.
Just after midnight, neighbors called 911 reporting flames coming from a single-wide mobile home on Stevens Street in Port Hadlock.
Crews arrived on scene within eight minutes of the call to find the structure fully engulfed with flames coming out through the roof.
Luckily, no one was home at the time of the fire.
Firefighters managed to keep the flames confined to the original structure as they extinguished the fire. Crews stayed on scene through the night to watch for hot spots.
In addition to all on-duty East Jefferson firefighters at the time, the response was supported by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Engine 91 from Naval Magazine Indian Island, and fire department volunteers.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
“It’s actually hard to determine,” East Jefferson Fire Chief Bret Black said. “This is kind of typical of mobile home fires because they burn so quickly and hot. There frankly wasn’t a lot of things to dig through.”
“We couldn’t rule out electrical and I guess they had been having some electrical issues historically with the structure, but we couldn’t find anything definitive,” he added.
Just as the crews had finished their clean-up from the structure fire, a brush fire was reported at the end of Eddy Street in Port Townsend at approximately 6 a.m. Sept. 22.
Two of the fire engines that had just left the first fire responded to find a 100-foot by 20-foot fire in the underbrush.
The fire was brought under control within six minutes of the arrival of emergency responders.
Crews were still mopping up the area the next day.
The cause of the second fire is also under investigation.
“It looks like it could have been transient-related, but we’re not sure,” Black said.
Black also noted that while the weather has brought cool air, the fire threat remains high.
“The vegetation was actively burning in the cool, moist conditions this morning, reminding all of us that the brush is ready to burn,” Black said.
