Ed Evans
News Director
KSQM 91.5 FM
A raging fire destroyed a woodworking and metal working shop adjacent to a home adjacent to 291 Cedar Creek Drive southwest of Sequim early this morning.
Homeowner Jerry Decker said he heard a loud explosion just after 7 a.m. this morning, something sounding like shotgun blasts. He thought perhaps people were shooting in nearby state land.
“And then immediately I heard another one and then another one,” Decker said. “And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’ And I opened the window and looked out and I saw smoke and flames coming from the shop.”
Decker says he saw sparks coming from his woodworking shop, and by the time he got outside, flames had erupted from one of the doors.
“There’s two doors, and the left door was open,” Decker said. “And the flames were just roaring out through that door. So I moved out tractors. We had two tractors that were close by and I moved both of those out of the way. But that’s all we could get to. It was too hot to do anything more than that. And then we backed away and by then the second door had melted and fallen into the shop and the flames were just terrible. We had to back off 30 or 40 feet.”
By the time firefighters arrived, the 32-foot by 28-foot building was completely engulfed in flames. In an effort to make room for approaching fire trucks, Decker climbed a ladder to release an overhead zip line used for his dogs. But the ladder tipped over, causing him to fall and lose consciousness.
He was taken to Olympic Medical Center where he suffered minor injuries.
“Nothing serious — just painful,” Decker said.
The fired destroyed the combination wood/metal shop, and a second floor filled with a large collection of metal tea pots and Christmas decorations.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
