A man died in a house fire off Seabeck Highway Monday afternoon in a blaze that gutted a small house.
Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue firefighters were called to the blaze at about 2:21 p.m., which had engulfed the two-story residence on the 9500 block of NW Klahowya Trail.
Forrest Thomas, who lives in a nearby trailer and said he suspects the deceased is his 57-year-old brother, was alerted to the fire by a cracking sound, most likely the windows of the house bursting, he said.
Thomas said he looked inside the burning house, and checked for his brother, but did not see him.
“I looked in the bedroom as far as I could. I couldn’t breathe at all there was so much smoke,” Thomas said.
Battalion Chief Joe Repar said there was one person found dead inside the house. He added that it took about 25 minutes to put the fire out and that the cause of the fire was not immediately known.
