No humans or animals were injured in a laundry room fire at a Coupeville shelter Sunday morning.
According to Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue Chief Jerry Helm, firefighters were dispatched at 8:22 a.m. to the Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation shelter on Park Road for a smoking drying machine.
WAIF Executive Director Cinnamon Hudgins said employees coming in at 8 a.m. had just started a load of smocks, pet bedding and towels in the 11-year-old commercial dryer when they immediately noticed something was amiss.
The building’s sprinkler system was a godsend, Hudgins said, doing the heavy lifting in extinguishing the blaze until firefighters arrived to take care of the rest of it. Helm said the crew was on scene for about two hours. Apart from the dryer and its contents, which were a total loss, there was minimal smoke damage to the ceiling of the laundry room.
Though Helm said most dryer fires tend to start because of a lint trap or vents that get clogged, Hudgins confirmed this was not the case. The blaze appears to have originated somewhere in the drum of the machine, she said.
Hudgins expressed gratitude for the WAIF employees who came in on their day off to help clean up the shelter and replace those who had been scheduled to work earlier when the fire broke out.
“We appreciate people who have been donating towels and blankets, and donating online,” she said. “Monetary helps too, because this is a double whammy.”
She explained that the shelter’s well is in the process of being fixed, which is anticipated to cost somewhere between $21,000 and $25,000 for repairs. A pump was recently replaced, but now the well needs to be trenched for a new conduit that will bring electricity to the site.
On top of that, the cost for the new drying machine is approximately $7,000.
To donate, visit waifanimals.org/donate. Towels and blankets for cats and dogs can be brought to the Coupeville shelter, which has remained open.