PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend police officer carried a woman from her smoke-filled home as her garage burned.
She and her husband, who were not identified, were safe but homeless at least briefly after the 5:24 p.m. Thursday blaze, said Patricia Willestoft, acting spokeswoman for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
A neighbor saw smoke and flames coming from a garage in the 700 block of 41st Street and called 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers, who alerted the fire department.
Port Townsend Police Officer Garin Williams carried the wife, who uses a walker, from the residence to safety, Willestoft said.
“He came in and scooped her up and carried her out and neighbors provided a chair for her,” Willestoft said.
Her husband got out of the house on his own, she added.
The first firefighters who arrived at 5:30 p.m. found the garage in flames. It was extinguished within 15 minutes.
The cause of the fire is under investigation but it is suspected to be related to smoking materials, Willestoft said.
The Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Red Cross assisted the couple with housing, while BoardUp, a company that provides victim assistance services, especially after fires, arrived from Bremerton to stabilize the garage and secure the house, Willestoft said.
“They were going to spend at least one night in a motel,” she said.
The fire was confined to the garage, but it left the garage unstable, “which is affecting the rest of the house,” Willestoft said.
“There was a lot of smoke in the house,” she added.
Twenty-one firefighters assisted from the East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, Port Ludlow Fire Rescue, Naval Magazine Indian Island and Discovery Bay Fire Rescue agencies.