PORT LUDLOW — Fire crews from Jefferson and Kitsap counties swarmed into Port Ludlow on Tuesday night to quickly douse a blaze that charred the Ludlow Beach Club’s women’s locker room.
The fire caused additional smoke damage to the beach club building.
No one was hurt, and the building sustained no serious structural damage after the fire broke in the two-story, 1970s-vintage clubhouse complex, fire officials said.
It is the second blaze to hit Port Ludlow since the Dec. 2 arson blaze that destroyed a fourplex at Admiralty I Condominiums in The Resort At Port Ludlow.
By the time emergency crews arrived, club staff had already evacuated about a dozen people using the facility at the time.
“The fire’s cause is still under investigation,” Wayne Kier, Jefferson County Fire District No. 3 (Port Ludlow) chief, said Wednesday morning.
“We are leaning toward a hot object being too close to combustible material.”
Two other calls, too
Emergency crews responded to a call that came at 5:31 p.m. only minutes apart from two other requests for help.
At the time, Kier also sent a crew to investigate a false alarm and an unconfirmed chimney fire call.
Within two minutes after receiving the call, firefighters arrived at the Beach Club, 121 Marine Drive, less than a mile away from the Port Ludlow Fire Station.
An unidentified caller reported a light smell of smoke in the building.
As crews approached the apparent source of the fire, a window broke out to feed the flames with additional oxygen, emitting heavy black smoke, fire officials said.
“The fire broke out while we were investigating the smoke,” said Kier. “We had the fire under control in under 30 minutes.”