2 appliance fires cause damage to NK homes
Published 1:30 am Monday, June 19, 2023
Two North Kitsap homes were damaged in appliance-related fires June 18.
One was April Allen’s, who is a police officer in Poulsbo. She is also an EMT with the Poulsbo Fire Department. The Poulsbo Police Officer’s Association is helping with a fundraiser. So far it has raised $4,395 of the $10,000 goal on GoFundMe.
North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, along with the Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island fire departments, were called to Allen’s three-story home off of Highway 305 near Laura Loop just before 4:30 p.m. One of the rental house’s two occupants had returned from work to find smoke alarms sounding and heavy smoke in the residence, sparking her call to 911.
A crew from NKF&R’s Suquamish station arrived about 8 minutes later. They reported heavy smoke and high heat but no active fire on the home’s main level. The heaviest fire damage was in the kitchen, and firefighters cooled hotspots with water supplied by tender trucks. The upper level was also impacted by smoke and heat; water damage affected both the main and the lower levels. Firefighters rescued a turtle.
The occupant told officials that she’d started the dishwasher before heading back to work after lunch. Investigators believe that the fire started in the dishwasher, spreading from there. The property is insured and the tenants have renters’ insurance.
Just over an hour later at 5:45 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to a two-story home off of Rash Road near Kingston for a dryer fire. When investigating an unusual smell coming from behind the laundry room’s closed door, one of the two occupants found heavy smoke and called 911.
Firefighters arrived in just over 7 minutes. They were able to quickly knock down the fire but the flames had already done serious damage to the laundry room and adjacent spaces. Heat and smoke damage extended to the house’s second floor, too.
Investigators say that witness statements and physical evidence point to the dryer as the likely origin of the fire. The family is insured.
Fire officials recommend against running heat-producing appliances such as dishwashers and clothes dryers while sleeping or away from home.
