SEQUIM — The causes of two Sequim-area fires, one at a mobile home on Old Olympic Highway on Saturday and the other in a field on Brown Road on Sunday, were still under investigation Monday afternoon.
Neither fire left anyone injured, and the two dogs belonging to the owner of the burned mobile home at 3401 Old Olympic Highway were unharmed, Clallam County Fire District 3 Lt. Bob Rhoads said.
But the home’s porch, entry and roof were so damaged that the home, owned by Josh Millar, is uninhabitable, added Clallam District 3 Capt. Dennis Kettel.
No one was home when a passer-by noticed the fire and called 9-1-1 at about 5:14 p.m. Saturday.
District 3 crews found the porch and front door in flames and heavy smoke pouring from the crawl space, Rhoads added, but the fire was knocked down and its progress halted within five minutes of their arrival.
With four engines and two water tenders parked on Old Olympic just west of Barr Road, the crews closed the highway at the scene for more than an hour.
Dry grass
The Sunday blaze, ignited in dry grass shortly after 3 p.m., took firefighters from Clallam County and the state Department of Natural Resources more than four hours to extinguish.
The wind picked up to 15 to 20 mph later Sunday afternoon, Rhoads said, driving the fire on Brown Road at Port Williams Road to spread across 2 acres, though no structures were threatened.
Crews finally had the blaze extinguished at 8:15 p.m., Rhoads said, adding that drifting smoke could be seen as far away as Blyn, some 7 miles east of Sequim.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
