Port Angeles: Lamp, discarded cigarettes found at origin of fatal apartment fire

PORT ANGELES — The fire that killed a man in his apartment Monday night was caused either by a lamp or discarded cigarettes in his living room, the city fire marshal said Wednesday.

But due to a lack of physical evidence, the cause of the blaze will officially be classified as undetermined, Fire Marshal Ken Dubuc said.

The blaze was “definitely an accidental fire,” he said.

Daniel F. Sullivan, 46, the sole resident of the second-floor unit at the Lincoln Square Apartments, 202 E. Lauridsen Blvd., died after his apartment caught fire late Monday night.

Firefighters pulled him from the burning apartment but could not revive him. No one else was injured.

An autopsy conducted late Tuesday indicated that Sullivan died of smoke inhalation, with no sign of foul play, Port Angeles Police Chief Tom Riepe said.

A team of investigators, including those from the Clallam County Fire Investigation Task Force, the state Fire Marshal’s Office, the Port Angeles Police and Fire departments, and a private insurance carrier, analyzed the charred apartment Wednesday to pinpoint the fire’s origin.

All investigators agree that the fire originated in Sullivan’s living room on the floor next to the couch, Dubuc said.

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