SEQUIM — Snow and ice on a private road prevented fire trucks from reaching a house fire just southeast of downtown Sequim on Tuesday night.

Firefighters from Clallam County Fire District No. 3, their trucks unable to make it up the slippery steep hill, could only watch from about a half-mile away as the orange-yellow glow of flames reflected off the cloudy sky.

Roger Moeder, assistant chief of the fire district, said owner Patrick Byrne wasn’t at the 586 Simdars Road house when the fire started.

Police officers who were able to drive to the scene reported no footprints in the snow or other indications that someone was in the structure.

Firefighters and a Sequim police detective who sifted through the ashes Wednesday afternoon found no evidence of victims, Moeder said.

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