PORT ANGELES — A fire that destroyed the workplaces of Kaman Industrial Technologies and Jesse Bay Cabinetry on Tuesday night originated in the Kaman office and was probably an accident, the Port Angeles Fire Department has concluded.
The cause of the fire at 930 Marine Drive and 932 Marine Drive has not been determined, and the Fire Department may use a forensic electrical engineer to determine if an appliance is to blame, Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen said on Saturday.
He said that the insurance companies of the building owners and tenants would cover the cost of the engineer.
McKeen said that fire investigators determined the origin of the fire by analyzing the burn patterns and looking at which area of the two workplaces received the most damage.
The fire was reported at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday and was extinguished by about 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Firefighters contained the blaze so that it didn’t spread to the offices of three other tenants in the building:
Mark’s Mobile Tune, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife office, and Washington Fire & Safety Equipment.
The building’s owners, Cecil and Frances Yother, expect repairs to take between four and six months.
Clallam County fire districts 2 and 3 also responded to the fire.
The Fire Department has no estimate on the monetary value of the fire damage.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
