PORT ANGELES — City workers restored electricity to all but two residences on Thursday after two businesses and five apartments were drenched by a sprinkler on Wednesday.
A kitchen fire in a fourth-floor apartment prompted a sprinkler to turn on and soak rentals and businesses in Lee Plaza, the former Lee Hotel at 112 W. First St.
Of the seven people who were displaced Wednesday night, all but two were allowed to return Thursday.
The fire started on a stove which had some papers and trash on it and set off the sprinkler, Fire Chief Dan McKeen said.
Firefighters were called at about 5:20 p.m. when water began dripping into lower floors.
“[The stove] might have been on, but we are still investigating,” he said.
The fire damaged the area of the stove and the adjacent wall, but was put out by the sprinkler.
“This is one of the biggest successes in terms of downtown structure fires,” McKeen said, “because it was put out while it was small and there were no injuries to any of the occupants or to any firefighters.”
Because no one was home at the time of the fire, the firefighters had to work their way through the building to locate where the water was coming from.
