Fire destroyed the West Jefferson County home of a man who loaded up and lighted his wood stove near Forks, left it to visit Port Angeles, and returned to find the house in ashes.
Clallam County Fire District No. 1 firefighters arrived at 1:49 p.m. Sunday to discover the cedar-sided home of Rob Critchfield, 3482 Undi Road, engulfed in flames.
Forks-based District No. 1 answered the call from one of Critchfield’s neighbors even though the location was in Jefferson County, about a mile outside the district.
“We went ahead because there’s no other coverage out there,” said Bill Palmer, officer in charge of the incident.
Firefighters had to transfer water by tanker from Undi Lake, about 1.5 miles away, to extinguish the blaze.
They left the scene at around 4:30 p.m.