PORT ANGELES — A blaze left three people homeless and a neighborhood shaken when a house in the Cherry Hill area caught fire Sunday morning.
Three occupants of a single-family home at 815 W. Ninth St. woke to find smoke in the house at about 10:40 a.m., said Ken Dubuc, Port Angeles assistant fire chief and city fire marshal.
“They got out of the house and called 9-1-1,” Dubuc said.
The three were able to escape the house without injury, he said.
Port Angeles Fire Department responded with 12 firefighters, with mutual-aid assistance from Clallam County Fire District 2.
When the Fire Department arrived, the house was fully involved and flames were threatening neighboring residences.
The home’s yard was filled with children’s toys and play structures and decorated for Halloween.
Getting water to the house was a challenge — it is between two fire hydrants, each a block away.
Firefighters laid long daisy-chained hoses from each hydrant to the house, and closed-off all of Ninth Street between A and B streets, and portions of A and B streets, to protect the hoses.
The fire created a dramatic, billowing column of smoke, drawing neighbors’ attention as the flames burst through the roof of the one-story home.
At that point, the primary objective of the firefighters was to keep the fire from spreading to adjacent homes, said Lt. Kelly Ziegler.
“The fire was contained to the structure, but it was heavily damaged,” Ziegler said.
Much of the roof is gone or buckled, and the interior burned from the front room to the back, where the fire burned through the exterior walls.
At 12:30 p.m., firefighters were still putting out hot spots.
As of 7 p.m. Sunday, Dubuc was still on scene investigating the fire, Ziegler said.
There was no known cause of the fire or estimate of damages at that time, he said.
Red Cross volunteers and family members were on scene to assist as needed.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
