PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County sheriff’s deputy evacuated a resident and his pets from a mobile home as it caught fire from a blaze that destroyed an empty cedar house nearby.
The two homes are uninhabitable after the Wednesday night blaze. The cause was undetermined as of Thursday.
At 10:32 p.m. Wednesday, a neighbor called 9-1-1 to report a fire in the empty house at 113 S. Brook Ave. in east Port Angeles.
Deputy Matt Murphy, who was on patrol nearby, was the first to reach the address, arriving within a minute of the report, said Brian King, chief criminal deputy for the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
Murphy found the cedar house engulfed in flames and an adjacent mobile home beginning to catch fire, King said.
“He was in the right place at the right time,” King said.
Murphy awakened the resident of the mobile home, Robert Stringham, 51, and evacuated him.
Returned to save pets
Once Stringham was safe, Murphy returned to the smoke-filled mobile home to remove two dogs, a cat and two birds.
“It was definitely an act of valor. It potentially saved the resident’s life,” King said.
Dan Huff, assistant chief of Clallam County Fire District No. 2, also said the man and his pets escaped without injury because of the deputy’s quick response to the neighbor’s call.
The empty house was destroyed by the fire, and the mobile home sustained substantial damage before firefighters were able to extinguish it.
The mobile home suffered heavy smoke and heat damage. Firefighters also had to pull apart walls and the roof to stop the fire inside the walls.
“The trailer is pretty well-demolished, but his belongings are intact,” said Mike DeRousie, assistant chief of Fire District No. 2.
The house was owned by Stringham’s sister, Janice Techelle, and he had been born in that house, DeRousie said.
It was not insured, and Stringham did not have renter’s insurance, he said.
DeRousie said Stringham was staying with a relative after the fire.
The cause and origin of the fire is under investigation by Fire District No. 2, with the assistance of sheriff’s deputies with advanced training in fire investigations.
Fire District No. 2 responded with 16 firefighters, three engines, two fire tenders, a chiefs unit and a medical unit.
A second deputy from the Sheriff’s Office also responded to assist.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
