BLYN — To Taya Dancel, Bill and Sherry Evans are heroes.
The couple happened to drive past her Old Blyn Highway home a little before 11 a.m. Friday and spotted smoke venting from the roof.
“They banged on the door and said, ‘Get out, get out,’ and they got everything out,” said Dancel after a chimney fire spread to the roof of her home.
“They were awesome.”
Sherry Evans quickly phoned PenCom emergency 9-1-1, and Bill Evans beat on the door of the home owned by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe where Dancel, a tenant, was asleep.
Her 8-month-old baby was in the house with her, while her 8-year-old son was at school.
Dancel, who has lived at the home in the 1700 block of Old Blyn Highway for six years, said she was awakened and startled by the noise but soon realized there was smoke.
The Diamond Point couple helped mother and child safely escape the fire.
Bill Evans then helped her pull baby furniture out of the house, family pictures off the wall and anything else they could grab before Clallam County Fire District 3 personnel arrived at 11 a.m. to chop holes in the roof and douse the blaze, completely extinguishing it shortly after noon.
Sherry Evans believes it was a little divine intervention that led her and her husband northbound on Old Blyn Highway following breakfast at 7 Cedars Casino.
“For some reason, God had us go down East Sequim Bay Road,” she said of the cruise they took down the scenic stretch on a sunny fall morning.
On their way back, they decided to swing up Old Blyn Highway to head home.
“We haven’t been on that road in three years,” she said.
Annette Nesse, Jamestown S’Klallam tribal chief operations officer, agreed that the Evans acted heroically.
Sherry Evans was humble.
“We certainly are not heroes,” she said. “We’re just two senior citizens.
“It was wonderful that it all worked out. We had a chance to be angels today.
“We were just fortunate to be there and be of help.”
Nesse said the tribe would put Dancel and her children up in temporary lodging while the tribe’s construction company repairs the home.
A value on the smoke- and fire-damaged home was not available Friday.
Lt. Paul Rynearson with Fire District 3 said the blaze appeared to be accidental in nature, the result of too much creosote in the chimney and a common cause of house fires this time of year.
Feeling the morning chill this time of year, Rynearson said, people begin to stoke up their woodstoves and fireplaces, sometimes igniting creosote from burning wood that has built up inside chimneys.
Firefighter Joel McKeen said six Fire District 3 and 14 firefighters responded to the fire.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
