PORT TOWNSEND — One woman was found dead and about 25 people were evacuated from a fire that broke out at about 9 p.m. at a senior citizen apartment complex at the corner of Clay and Madison streets uptown.
“It was a quickly accelerated fire,” said Cliff Rogers, 68, who had lived in the three-story Marine Plaza Apartment complex at 619 Clay St. for two years.
“I’ll probably stay in my truck tonight.”
Officials had not confirmed the identity of the dead woman.
Her body was found shortly after the fire was doused at about 9:45 p.m., said Chuck Boggs, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue assistant fire chief in Chimacum, who was heading up the fire’s command center.
The body was in the first floor apartment where the fire originated, Boggs confirmed.
Residents of the complex had worried, as they watched firefighters battle the blaze, that an elderly woman who smoked was still inside the first-floor unit where the fire had broken out.
Rogers said he heard a loud “boom” come from the apartment.
About four East Jefferson Fire-Rescue units arrived at the fire, and at least 10 firefighters swarmed the Madison Street side of the complex, climbing by ladder into the upper floor to smother the blaze and check for victims.
About 25 residents were ordered to evacuate the complex while fire investigators probed for the cause of the blaze.
Most were expected to return to their apartments Tuesday night but American Red Cross representatives were standing by to assist any who needed a place to stay overnight, possibly at the Port Townsend Community Center nearby on Taylor Street.
A first-floor apartment fronting Madison Street was destroyed, and the second-floor apartment above it was heavily charred in fire.
