PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and Clallam County Fire District No. 2 investigators were looking Tuesday for the cause of an early morning fire that destroyed an unoccupied log cabin along U.S. Highway 101 just west of the Elwha River.
“At this point, we have no reason to believe it is suspicious,” Fire Chief Sam Phillips said. “At this point, it could be purely accidental.”
Fire district crews were called to the fire on Lake Aldwell Road, just west and north of the Highway 101 bridge over the Elwha River, at about 1:29 a.m., Phillips said.
They found the one-story cabin engulfed in flames, with fire and heat threatening two nearby homes, Phillips said.
A power pole in the area was singed, and trees near the cabin were burned by the extreme radiant heat, Phillips added.
Crews extinguished the blaze in about two hours, protecting the nearby homes, and had left by 6 a.m., Phillips said.
No one was in the cabin, which was owned by Susie Gustafson, who lives nearby, Phillips said.
Phillips did not have a damage estimate Tuesday morning.
Firefighters were told the cabin had been rented up until Monday, when the occupants moved to California, he said.
Sixteen firefighters with two fire engines, two water tenders and two command vehicles worked on the fire.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
