CLALLAM BAY — A longtime West End couple awoke at dawn Sunday to flames consuming their bedroom.
Retired Clallam Bay residents David Levin and Corinne Davis escaped unharmed from what appeared to be an electrical fire after fleeing the blaze and calling 9-1-1 at 5:38 a.m. Sunday, Clallam County Fire District No. 5 Fire Chief Trish Hutson said Monday morning.
But the couple’s two-story, cedar shake and shingle home at 16743 Hoko-Ozette Road home was a total loss.
It was valued at $6,207, according to the county Assessor’s Office.
Hutson said that all Levin and Davis had left from their home was the pajamas they were wearing and their car.
“They are in need of everything,” Hutson said.
She said the couple, whom she said are in their 60s, were staying at a West End hotel Monday morning as they sorted out their future.
“Right now, they are pretty much in shock,” Hutson said.
The fire department is working with the Red Cross, Olympic Community Action Programs and local agencies to obtain assistance for the couple, Hutson said.
“We’re just trying to get their basic needs met — medications, that sort of thing.”
Levin and Davis had lived in the West End for 30-40 years and did not have fire insurance on the home, she said.
“Their kids went to school with my kids,” Hutson said, adding Levin had worked on the docks in Sekiu for several years before retiring.
Hutson said the blaze remains under investigation.
But the fire appears to have started just inside a window and originated from a space heater or a power outlet that ignited clothing or curtains after power came on following a planned Clallam County Public Utility District outage.
An aide unit and six firefighters responded with one 1,000-gallon engine and a 500-gallon brush truck.
Hutson said the 500-gallon truck had to be refilled twice to douse hot spots.
She said the nearest hydrant is 23 miles away.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
