PORT TOWNSEND — A March 4 car fire that killed Melissa Graves of Port Townsend originated in one of three catalytic converters in the 2005 Honda Pilot she was driving.
An investigation by East Jefferson Fire Rescue Chief Mike Mingee and a Tacoma-based forensic engineer specializing in car fires came to that conclusion.
Although the model of Honda was reported to have problems with its gas tank, Mingee said the fire originated in the engine compartment and not in the rear of the vehicle where the gas tank is located.
The catalytic converter was determined to have reached high enough temperatures to start a fire as Mrs. Graves, 36, sat unconscious in the car with the engine idling for up to an hour.
She was unconscious at the time, the result of a diabetic reaction.
Investigators think that the catalytic converter started a fire below the vehicle in the grass, which subsequently caught the vehicle on fire, killing Mrs. Graves.
She was the wife of Frontier Bank Vice President/General Manager Lawrence Graves of Port Townsend.
