PORT LUDLOW — A Port Ludlow man died after his neighbor’s home burned to the ground late Friday — a day before the neighbor graduated from high school.
The unidentified man hooked up his garden hose and began to water down the side of his house facing the burning structure, said Duty Chief Lonnie Reynolds of Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue.
“Moments later, the gentleman suffered a heart attack and collapsed,” Reynolds said in a written statement.
Despite attempts to revive him, he died on the way to Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, Reynolds said.
The fire department did not release his name.
When Port Ludlow firefighters arrived at the mobile home on West Maple Street off Paradise Bay Road at 8:46 p.m. Friday night, they found it engulfed in flames.
The only person at the home was Shawn Pritchett, 18, who escaped unharmed.
Pritchett graduated Saturday from Chimacum High School, apparently unaware that his neighbor had died.
Pritchett told them that he had put some cedar firewood into the stove on top of a few remaining embers, then went out to his car to get his cellphone.
He had left the stove door open, and sparks from the wood ignited the carpet.
When he returned to the house, he attempted to put the fire out, firefighters said, but by then flames had spread to the drapes and rapidly moved to the rest of the house, including multiple add-on structures.
All were destroyed in the fire.
The fire remains under investigation by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, the fire department said.
The teen was transported to a hospital, where he was evaluated for smoke inhalation and released, the fire department said.
On Saturday, Pritchett said he didn’t want to go to the commencement ceremony but changed his mind after a friend donated a shirt, pants and tie that he could wear, and Principal Whitney Meissner secured an extra cap and gown.
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, Naval Magazine Indian Island Station 91, Quilcene Fire District 2, Discovery Bay Fire District 5, Poulsbo Fire District and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.
Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue remained on scene throughout the night monitoring for potential hot spots.
Cleanup was completed midday Saturday.