PORT ANGELES — The owner of a camping trailer and garage destroyed in a Wednesday fire was assessing the damage Thursday and had not yet developed a damage estimate.
“The fire marshal said it was a total loss,” owner Cliff Smith said Thursday in a phone interview.
“The building and the contents are a total loss.”
Fire crews from both the Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2 were called to Smith’s property at 3249 S. Regent St., about a half-mile south of Port Angeles High School, at about 3:30 Wednesday after a 9-1-1 call of a fire in Smith’s two-story garage and shop.
No serious injuries
“When we arrived, the building was pretty fully involved,” Port Angeles Fire Chief Ken Dubuc said Wednesday.
Smith said no one was in the camper or garage during the fire and that no one was seriously injured.
Smith said he was in his home when his neighbor came to his door to tell him his camper was on fire.
The camper was parked inside the detached garage, which stood just north of Smith’s home.
Smith ran from his house, propped a ladder against the camper and aimed a garden hose at the blaze coming out of the camper’s roof.
The fire soon became so hot it singed Smith’s arm and stomach, and he said he had to jump down from the ladder as the fire spread.
Dubuc estimated that fire crews took the better part of 30 minutes to knock it down.
Cause undetermined
A cause of the fire has not been determined, Dubuc said, adding that he was planning to assign a fire investigator by Thursday.
Smith said he suspects the electrical wiring system of the camper, which he bought in 2008, might have started the blaze.
He said he was using the garage as a workshop and for storage.
“I’m a hunter, so I got a pile of antlers in there about 9 feet high,” Smith said.
Insurance adjusters were expected to be at the property Thursday determining what could be recovered, Smith said.
“I’m in the process of getting a bid to have it torn down and rebuilt,” he said.
In addition to the camper, he said, the garage and shop stored a number of power tools, a lawn mower and a four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle, all of which were blackened by the fire.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
