PORT ANGELES – Electrical issues may have touched off a garage fire west of Port Angeles.
Clallam 2 Fire Rescue was called just before noon to 61 Whispering Firs Road.
Chief Jake Patterson says by chance, three volunteer firefighters were in the area conducting training with an engine from the Dry Creek fire station. They were able to immediately respond along with the on-duty crew from the Gales Addition station. He says that reduced the arrival of the first fire engine by several minutes. The regular on-duty firefighters were out of the station on another detail and had to respond with their ambulance.
Chief Patterson was the first unit to arrive at the scene and reported a fully involved garage fire from an attached garage. The fire was beginning to spread to the primary residence, a two story, split level home. All the occupants were out of the house. Crews limited spread to one corner of the second floor of the house.
Patterson says the home’s occupant reported they were having some electrical issues in the house and there were several appliances plugged into outlets in the garage. The burn patterns indicate the area of origin to be the front corner of the garage which ignited a large amount of combustible material.