PORT ANGELES — Firefighters believe a fire that destroyed an abandoned mobile home west of Port Angeles on Wednesday afternoon was set intentionally.
“The mobile home was completely destroyed, and arson is suspected,” said Mike DeRousie, Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue assistant fire chief, in a news release.
DeRousie said Thursday that arson seems to be the only explanation for what could have caused the fire in the 45-by-10-foot mobile home at 237979 U.S. Highway 101.
He said the fire was so bad firefighters couldn’t identify where the fire started.
The structure was abandoned with no power to the unit, DeRousie said, adding that rules out an electrical issue starting the fire.
An investigation by both firefighters and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office is in progress, he said. Sgt. Eric Munger said there is an investigation but that the report had not yet been filed in the department’s system.
At 4:23 p.m. Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue was called to the fire in the old Clallam Timber log yard.
DeRousie said the property is owned by Olympic Timber Town, which is working on a re-creation of a 1890-1900-era logging town, complete with a downtown area, loop railroad, timber mill, trails and an arena large enough for timber equipment demonstrations or horse shows.
An official with Timber Town told DeRousie someone might have been stealing metal.
The 9-1-1 call reporting the fire came from a passing driver who saw smoke and large flames coming from a structure at the location, according to DeRousie.
“When firefighters arrived on scene, they had to cut the lock on the gate to gain access to a fully involved structure,” DeRousie said.
The house was fully involved when DeRousie got there. He was the first on scene.
He said there wasn’t a risk of the fire spreading because there were no nearby structures and the ground was still wet.
Firefighters had the fire extinguished within about 15 minutes, he said.
Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue responded with three engines, two tenders, two command vehicles, 11 firefighters.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
At 4:23 p.m. Wednesday, crews from Clallam Fire District No. 2 responded to a structure fire at 237979 U.S. Highway 101 in the old Clallam Timber log yard, west of Port Angeles (Clallam Fire District No. 2)
