PORT ANGELES — Firefighters extinguished early this morning an outbuilding fire in Gales Addition that spread to a wooded area.
The structure, which was destroyed, was a storage building for the historic log-built Loomis Tavern before the outbuilding was moved to the property.
The blaze in the unoccupied structure in the 3500 bock of East Bay Street was discovered at about 3 a.m. today around a portable generator inside the building, Chief Jake Patterson of Clallam County Fire District 2 said in a press release.
The generator was supplying electrical power to a travel trailer housing two people on the property. It was acting abnormally, so one of the residents checked on it and found flames around the device, Patterson said.
The residents attempted to put out the blaze, but it grew out of control and spread to surrounding grass and bushes before it was extinguished, Patterson said.
The 200-square-foot cedar building was fully engulfed in flames when a Fire District 2 fire engine arrived to begin suppression of the flames from the outside of the building due to its intensity.
The blaze was extinguished by 4 a.m. Friday, Patterson said.
There were no civilian or firefighter injuries.
Fire District 2 responded with three fire engines, one water tender, one ambulance, two command vehicles and 11 firefighters.
The Port Angeles Fire Department responded with one fire engine and three firefighters.
The Loomis Tavern, which closed about 30 years ago on U.S. Highway 101, was known for the large wooden hand displaying a middle finger to passersby.
In a project spearheaded by the Port Angeles Rotary Club and the late club member and community leader Leonard BeilI, the tavern was disassembled and rebuilt by Rotarians at Lincoln Park in the 1990s.
It now serves as a meeting space.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
