PORT TOWNSEND — The Tides Inn Manager Simon Lee was both distraught and relieved Monday.
A fire had broken out at the 1807 Water St. motel — noted for its appearance in the 1982 movie “An Officer and a Gentleman” — and an initial call said someone was trapped inside.
The Port Townsend Fire Department responded to the alarm at 2:43 p.m. and firefighters quickly determined the fire was contained in an uninhabited storage closet.
“I’m stressed and distraught, but relieved that it wasn’t worse than it is,” Lee said. “I appreciate the quick response by the firefighters. They did a good job.”
The fire caused extensive smoke damage to the two-story building, which previously housed the motel office before a new office and rooms were built to the south within the past year.
The old office entrance was depicted in a scene in “An Officer and a Gentlemen” seconds before a climactic scene in which the character portrayed by Richard Gere discovered a suicide in a motel room.
The full story appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News, on sale throughout Clallam and Jefferson counties. Click onto “Subscribe” to get your PDN delivered to your home or office.