PORT ANGELES — A fire in an outbuilding behind the Reino gas station and a stubborn car fire in Gales Addition kept firefighters racing to scenes Sunday evening.
At 6:16 p.m. Sunday, firefighters from the Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2 were called to a fire in the alley behind 1233 E. First St.
The fire in a 20-foot by 20-foot building behind the Reino gas station was caused by a knocked over portable space heater, Port Angeles Fire Chief Ken Dubuc said Monday.
Firefighters responded with two engines and two medical units, with assistance from a Clallam County Fire District No. 2 engine.
“They did a good job to keep it from spreading,” Dubuc said.
The building and its contents were almost completely destroyed, he said.
The Fire District No. 2 engine had to depart soon after it arrived at the scene in order to respond to a vehicle fire at E Fifth Avenue.
The vehicle fire call came in at 6:47 p.m., and firefighters had to pack up their equipment before departing, said Fire District No. 2 Chief Sam Phillips.
District firefighters responded to 2354 E. Fifth Ave., where they found a Volkswagen van fully engulfed and several nearby items, including a motorcycle, threatened by the fire, Phillips said.
The van’s magnesium engine block continued burning, and it took about 45 minutes to extinguish the fire, he said.
A bystander was taken to Olympic Medical Center for smoke inhalation.
He was not identified by the fire department.
The relationship between the bystander and the vehicle was not clear, Phillips said.
An engine, a water tender, a medic unit and eight firefighters responded to the fire, he said.
No cause for the car fire was immediately available.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
