Fire claims Clinton home

No one injured in Sunday blaze

SCATCHET HEAD — Fire tore through the kitchen of a double-wide mobile home in Clinton Sunday afternoon.

The owner of the mobile home in the 7800 block of Decatur Avenue was not home at the time. Neighbors noticed smoke coming through the windows and called 911, Fire District 3 officials said.

“We responded and we found a kitchen fire. We ventilated the house and saw a small fire smoldering in the stove and microwave combination. We made entry and extinguished the fire,” said Deputy Chief Mike Cotton.

“It was a good save. The kitchen was damaged and there was a significant amount of smoke damage through the rest of the house, but that was it,” he said.

The owner had not been cooking, and the stove merely malfunctioned, Cotton said.

“It could have been a lot worse. When mobile homes catch fire, they usually go up quickly,” he said. “This one may have been caught in time. It did not take off like it could have and we had good timing for the phone call from the neighbor and for the response. The firefighters did a good job.”

The blaze drew quite a crowd. Some neighbors watched from their doorsteps as firefighters battled the blaze, while dozens of other residents of the Scatchet Head community gathered in small groups along Decatur Avenue to watch. A few took pictures of the fire with their cellphones.

Firefighters tapped a hydrant next to the home and also brought in water tanker trucks to fight the fire.

Fire department rigs and other emergency vehicles clogged the narrow road, and the smell of smoke hung in the neighborhood through much of Sunday.

Island County Sheriff’s Office deputies took possession of the owner’s valuables for safekeeping until the homeowner returned.

The owner is staying with family in the area.

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