PORT ANGELES — A failing bluff that threatened two homes on Caroline Street after a house fire Tuesday seems to have stabilized, but it will be evaluated through the weekend to determine whether it is still a concern, a city engineer said Thursday.
About 10 to 15 feet of the bluff collapsed Tuesday because of heavy water runoff from firefighters’ efforts to save a burning home at 715 Caroline St.
The collapse left only a few feet of land between the burning home and the edge of the bluff, and firefighters were forced to let the home burn in a controlled fashion to prevent additional landslides.
A home at 713 Caroline St. was also threatened by the sliding bluff.
Engineers from Northwestern Territories Inc., a Port Angeles land surveying firm, have set survey points on the crumbling bluff and will keep track of any movement throughout the weekend, said Jonathan Boehme, a civil engineer for the city.
“There has been little change in the last day,” he said.
Boehme said the Waterfront Trail, a portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail, will remain closed between City Pier and North Francis Street while water is allowed to filter out of the hillside.
The bluff and trail will be re-evaluated Monday, and a decision on reopening the trail will be made at that time, he said.
Residents of the house at 713 Caroline St., who were not allowed to stay overnight at their home Tuesday and Wednesday nights because of the bluff’s instability, were allowed to return Thursday.
Tuesday’s fire destroyed the 116-year-old house at 715 Caroline St.
The fire was reported at about 1:45 p.m. and firefighters had the blaze mostly extinguished by 8 p.m.
Firefighters remained overnight to put out isolated flames until at least 6:30 a.m., and there were still small hot spots Wednesday afternoon, according to the Port Angeles Fire Department.
Taken down
The remainder of the home was taken down with a bucket excavator to allow water to get to hot spots in the basement.
It was the oldest of the six homes on the north side of Caroline Street that are perched on bluffs overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The homes are just west of the Francis Street access to the Waterfront Trail, which passes under the bluffs.
Three of those homes — at 705, 713 and 715 Caroline St. — were already precariously close to the bluffs, which have been eroding naturally.
The destroyed house, built in 1900, was valued at $150,089, according to county property records.
It was owned by Judy Galgano, 83, who had moved into the house in 1956.
No one was home at the time of the fire, but Galgano’s Himalayan-cross cat has not been seen since.
Fire Chief Ken Dubuc has said the cause of the fire was not known, but Galgano told firefighters she had left a fire in a wood stove while she was on an errand.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
