QUILCENE — An ember from a wood stove is believed to have caused a residential house fire in Quilcene that was extinguished by responders from six fire departments.
No one was injured in the fire. About $80,000 worth of damage was done to the house and property, said Quilcene Fire Chief Tim McKern, who described the structure as a total loss.
The blaze started at about 3 p.m. Monday after an ember from a wood stove started a fire in a resident’s living room on Center Road near the intersection of East Columbia Street, McKern said.
Teams worked overnight to extinguish the fire. It was reported out at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, McKern said.
Teams from Quilcene Fire Rescue, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, Brinnon Fire Rescue, Mason County Fire District 17, Discovery Bay Fire Rescue and Port Ludlow Fire Rescue all assisted in bringing in water, containing and extinguishing the fire, McKern said.
“We used a lot of water putting it out,” he said.
“Brinnon gets the Rock Star award,” he added, because the team helped with the Quilcene fire and then moved on to assist with two Mason County fires.
Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to large piles of firewood and lumber around the property, as well as a few outbuildings, old vehicles and even two school busses that were full of lumber, McKern said.
Firefighters kept the fire contained to the house and a few smaller vehicles that were right next to the house.
“If it had gone into those exposures, it would’ve been off to the races and would have been fighting it from Highway 101 verses Center Road,” McKern said.
The fire burned fast and hot, partially because of the structure’s metal roof, which contained a lot of the heat, McKern said.
The fire departments and the homeowner wereable to use heavy equipment (some of it belonging to the homeowner) to remove the roof and be able to extinguish the fire and start to sort through the damage, he added.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at [email protected].
(Zach Jablonski/Peninsula Daily News)
(Zach Jablonski/Peninsula Daily News)
(Zach Jablonski/Peninsula Daily News)
