PORT TOWNSEND — Firefighters aren’t ready to release an official report on the cause of Tuesday’s apartment house fire that killed 70-year-old Donna Walden and left 10 people without homes.
But under consideration is the possibility that the fire was due to cigarette smoking with oxygen tanks nearby, said Julie Mathews, public information officer for the East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Department, on Wednesday.
Blackened cylinders of oxygen bottles were outside Walden’s charred dwelling at the Marine Plaza Senior Apartments, 619 Clay St., Port Townsend, on Wednesday.
Tuesday night, as they stood outside the apartment complex watching firefighters battle the blaze that started at about 9 p.m., residents said that Walden was a heavy smoker who often smoked in inside.
Cliff Rogers, 68, Walden’s next door neighbor, said he heard multiple explosions that he attributed to oxygen tanks combusting.
Other residents said they felt it was only a matter of time before a cigarette-related fire occurred in the complex.
“It always made me nervous when I would go to sleep at night if this is going to happen,” said John Sturm, 75, a resident.
“And sure enough, it did happen. This was preventable. She shouldn’t have died that way.”
He said Walden had tended to keep to herself, but he often saw her feeding raccoons from her window.
Walden had two cats that also perished in the fire, said Mathews.
An investigation into the cause of the fire that destroyed Walden’s ground-floor room and smoke-damaged several others in the 40-room complex is under way, wrote East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Chief Mike Mingee in a news release Wednesday.
“We’re hoping we might have a preliminary report on the cause of the fire by the end of this week or early next week,” said Mathews.
Ten couldn’t go home
The night of the fire, the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Red Cross was ready to supply relief to up to 40 people.
Ten people were not allowed back into their rooms after returning for a brief period to gather necessary medications.
Most found a temporary home with family or friends, but two were put up at Tides Inn on Sims Way in Port Townsend.
One of those was Michael Emrys, 62, a 20-year resident of the complex who lived in the room directly above Walden’s.
His room was heavily smoke damaged and soaked through from the fire hoses.
“This was the biggest bad thing that’s ever happened, I reckon,” Emrys said.