SEQUIM — An early morning fire consumed a Lost Mountain Road-area home Sunday as firefighters continually called for more water tenders.
The home, owned Carole Coe-Hauskins, was a complete loss, though the garage was spared, said Clallam County Fire District No. 3 spokesman Bob Rhoads said.
The fire was called in at about 5:30 a.m., and Coe-Hauskins, who lived in the home by herself, escaped without any injury, Rhoads said.
The home is about 3 miles from Lost Mountain Road and is within a gated community, but firefighters have access to the gate codes so arriving was not a problem, Rhoads said.
“One problem was the lack of hydrants up there,” he said.
“The home was not equipped with sprinklers, so we had to truck all the water up there.
“That makes fighting a fire much more difficult.”
By the time firefighters arrived, 25 percent of the house was already destroyed, he said.
Clallam County Fire District No. 3 responded to the call at the 13,000-square-foot home, 164 Graywolf Ridge Road, and called in assistance from Clallam County Fire District No. 2.
The response included three engines, a medic unit, ladder truck, two assistant chiefs, two water tenders and a rescue unit from Clallam County Fire District No. 3, two water tenders were requested from Clallam County Fire District No. 2 and an electrical crew from Clallam County Public Utility District to disconnect electrical power.
A vehicle outside the house also caught fire, but it is unclear whether the car caught fire first or the home, Rhoads said.
The firefighters cut a hole in the roof for ventilation and worked to control the fire from the inside, but the living area of the home was not able to be saved.
Coe-Hauskins is an attorney with an active license who works out of her home, according to the Washington State Bar Association.
She was admitted to the bar in 1971 and specializes in elder law and family law.
Coe-Hauskins’ late husband, William Hauskins, died at the age of 75 of cancer.
The home had been a project of the couple’s since 1999.
Hauskins had been a negotiator for the International Federation of Technical Engineers and the Teamsters in the 1970s.
When he retired in 1999 in Seattle, of which he was a lifelong resident, he was the city of Seattle’s director of labor relations.
In his 2006 obituary in The Seattle Times, Coe-Hauskins spoke of their 20-year plan to build the house.
“Three days before he died, when he could still talk to me, he said, ‘You have to promise me you’ll finish the house,'” she said to the Times at the time.
“I said, ‘Honey, if it’s within my power to do it, I will.'”
Since 2006, she has made hundreds of thousands of dollars of improvements, according to the Clallam County Assessor and Treasurer’s office’s website.
The two-story wood-frame house also had a detached garage and shop.
Rhoads said he didn’t know where Coe-Hauskins planned to stay.
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
