PORT TOWNSEND — A Sunday morning house fire took an hour to extinguish after a chimney fire smoldered overnight.
Fire department officials said the fire broke out in the basement of a house at 734 Taft St. in the Morgan Hill area of the city.
“The fire was declared out about an hour later, and there were no injuries,” said Bill Beezley, spokesman for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
The fire department was called to the fire at 8:29 a.m. Sunday.
Beezley said the homeowners thought they extinguished a small chimney fire in their basement wood-burning stove Saturday night.
“They didn’t call 9-1-1 and thought they had extinguished the fire,” he said.
When a resident of the home woke up Sunday morning, she checked in the basement again and saw additional smoke.
She opened the garage to vent the space then took a shower, Beezley said.
Upon checking again later, she saw that the smoke was thicker and called 9-1-1.
Beezley said firefighters’ efforts to battle the fire were hampered by tight quarters and congested space in the basement of the 1,200-square-foot home built in 1952.
The fire was eventually knocked down at 9:28 a.m., he said.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway, with investigators focusing on the area of the wood-burning stove.
Beezley said the extent of damage from the fire was still being evaluated Sunday morning.
Fire department officials said it is always good to contact the fire department after a fire in the home, even a small one.
“Fires have a bad habit of flaring back up — sometimes after an extended period of time,” Fire Chief Gordon Pomeroy said in a news release.
“We’ve got thermal imaging cameras which can look behind walls and other blocked off areas to find hot spots that are not visible. We encourage folks to give us a call to ensure their safety,” he said.
Engine 91 from Naval Magazine Indian Island and command staff from Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue assisted East Jefferson with the fire.
Discovery Bay District 5 and Quilcene Fire & Rescue staffed local stations to provide support while firefighters were occupied at the Taft Street fire.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
