PORT ANGELES — Officials are investigating the cause of two fires that began within an hour of each other along state Highway 112 early Thursday morning.
It wasn’t clear how the two fires started, but arson is “definitely something we’re looking into,” said Chief Alex Baker of Clallam County Fire District No. 4.
The first fire was reported shortly after 2 a.m. on Highway 112 near Dodger Lane, about 5 miles east of Joyce.
Baker said when firefighters arrived they found an abandoned sedan engulfed in flames.
It took less than a half hour to extinguish the blaze.
While firefighters were still on scene shortly after 3 a.m., they were called out to another abandoned vehicle fire at milepost 46 on Highway 112.
When they arrived they found a section of an abandoned modular home fully engulfed in flames.
Baker said the fire was about 12 feet by 80 feet and was knocked down in about 45 minutes with the help of Clallam County Fire District No. 2.
What caused two fires along the same stretch of road within an hour of each other remained under investigation Thursday.
Firefighters couldn’t find the source of the fires Thursday morning, he said, adding that there was no power or heat source that could have started the fires.
“There wasn’t really a source of a fire,” Baker said.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office’s arson investigator will look at the damage today, said Sgt. Eric Munger.
This isn’t the first time an abandoned vehicle caught fire along Highway 112.
Baker said a couple months back a trailer also caught fire on the highway closer to the Elwha River, outside of Fire District No. 4.
“We are looking into that as being connected,” Munger said. “We’re not dismissing that.”
At this point the Sheriff’s Office does not have any suspects and does not know how the fires were started.
“All of those are things we’re still investigating,” he said.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
