BEAVER — Clallam County Fire District No. 1 firefighters smothered a blaze in a stolen 2005 blue Suzuki on Tuesday.
As an officer talked to a Forks man who reported his car stolen, the fire was called in to dispatchers, and the officer confirmed with the owner that the blazing vehicle was his, said Forks Police Chief Mike Powell.
“We matched the description with that the State Patrol provided — only now the car had flames in it,” Powell said.
The Forks Police Department is handling the stolen car investigation, as well as the investigation of the fire in Beaver, Powell said.
“Although it happened outside of city limits, because it was stolen out of Forks, we handed the investigation over to the Forks Police Department,” said State Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Krista Hedstrom.
Arson investigation
Powell said Tuesday that investigators had not determined whether the fire was arson.
State Patrol dispatchers said that troopers did not believe it appeared to be arson.
“No one smelled any accelerants, but how quickly the fire spread into the passenger cabin was suspicious, so we are still investigating that,” Powell said.
No arrests have been made.
“We’ve had a few names thrown around here and there, but it is all still under investigation,” Powell said.
No one appeared to be injured by the fire, and it also did not appear to damage any other property, Powell said.
State Patrol handled recovery of the vehicle, Hedstrom said.
“When the troopers got there, the vehicle was fully engulfed,” she said.
