PORT ANGELES — Firefighters extinguished a blaze in a shopping cart that had been started by a person attempting to stay warm in an abandoned building at the intersection of Front and Lincoln streets.
People taking shelter inside the vacant, two-story comericial building called for help from the Port Angeles Fire Department at 9:52 p.m. Saturday after a blaze lit by one person to warm the group grew out of control, said Lieutenant Michael Ingraham, in a press release issued Sunday.
The people in the building tried to put out the fire with water while calling firefighters, Ingraham said.
No one was hurt, he said. Damage was contained to the trash being burned, Ingraham said.
Five fire department personnel found very light smoke showing at the doorway of the building when they arrived.
Port Angeles police officers already there told firefighters that a group of people had been inside, but it was believed that all had gotten out.
Firefighters went into the structure and extinguished any remaining fire and ensured there were no hot spots left, Ingraham said.
Firefighters and police officers made sure that entrances to the building were boarded off after confirming that no one had re-entered the structure, he added.
In 2016, a fence was placed on city right-of-way at that corner to discourage homeless people from congregating there.
