Agnew fire destroys shop, damages garage

An afternoon fire in Agnew that fire district officials believe was accidental destroyed a shop and damaged a garage but left a home undamaged on June 30.

At about 3:54 p.m. last Thursday, personnel from Fire District 3 (Sequim) responded to a reported brush fire in the Carlsborg area; the initial call came from someone unfamiliar with the area, but 911 dispatchers were able to get information from additional callers and update crew that the fire involved a vehicle, a structure and a field fire on Percival Road in Agnew.

The first-arriving units found a shop with a lean-to fully engulfed in fire, including a pick-up truck under the lean-to. A second building, a garage, had fire on the exterior with smoke coming from the eves.

A third building, a residence, was not involved.

The shop was considered a total loss and firefighters focused on preventing the garage fire from spreading to the home, district chief Ben Andrews said in a press release on July 1. The garage fire was contained to the exterior on the building’s north side, including the rafters and sheeting of the roof system inside.

The shop and its contents are a total loss including multiple vehicles and pieces of equipment, fire district officials said. All of the contents of the garage, including a vehicle were smoke damaged.

The vegetation fire was limited because it had been recently mowed, Andrews said, and little effort was needed to contain the grass fire.

The fire was controlled at 5:47 p.m. and the last unit cleared at 10:27 p.m., Andrews said.

The property owners were out of town and there was a house-sitter home at the time, fire district officials said, as well as an individual at the property to mow the grass.

Fire crews on scene included three engines, two water tenders, two medic units, a chief and 20 firefighters and support personnel from Fire District 3. An engine and water tender from Fire District 2, an engine from Port Angeles Fire Department and an ambulance from Olympic Ambulance assisted Fire District 3 through mutual aid.

During this response, a two-person crew from the Diamond Point Station, an assistant chief, two Olympic Ambulance units and a medic unit from Port Townsend responded to multiple medical calls in the Sequim area.