PORT ANGELES — A fire in the Clallam County jail damaged only a dryer and a blanket, the sheriff’s office reported.
Corrections deputies discovered that a fire had started inside the industrial sized dryer in the jail laundry room just after 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Electricity was shut off to the appliance and deputies put the fire out with a fire extinguisher, the sheriff’s office reported in a press release.
The heat relays had malfunctioned and stayed on and the dryer got too hot. Lint in the top of the dryer ignited then fell into the drum below catching a blanket on fire, according to the release.
The inmate laundry worker that was working at the time was removed from the area and was not injured. Deputies locked down the jail for a bit while the Port Angeles Fire Department came to remove smoke which had reached the corridors of the jail.
