a day ago
One dead in Pierce County house fire on July 4. Cause under investigation
One person was killed in a house fire early on the Fourth of July in the Wauna area, the Key Peninsula Fire Department reports.
The blaze broke out at 2:17 a.m. in the 7500 block of 144th Street Court Northwest, Key Peninsula Fire Department spokesperson Anne Nesbit wrote in an email and text exchange. Key Peninsula Fire and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One units were dispatched to the scene. As of Tuesday afternoon, she wrote that the cause remains under investigation.
A second house fire broke out at 7:35 a.m. that morning in the 16800 block of 154th Street Northwest, on the northern part of the Key Peninsula. Officials believe the cause was electrical but are still investigating, Nesbit told The News Tribune. Key Peninsula Fire relied on support from Gig Harbor, South Kitsap and Mason County firefighters to fight the flames until crews could 'break from the first fire,' she wrote.
She added that neither fire was linked to fireworks, though the fire department received eight other calls that day that were related to fireworks. No firefighters were injured, Nesbit wrote.
The American Red Cross is providing support for the two families who were 'devastated' by the two structure fires, the fire department wrote in a Facebook post. Nesbit wrote that the Pierce County Fire Marshal will determine the causes of the fires. The Medical Examiner's Office has not yet released the name of the person who died, and Nesbit said she was not able to confirm the person's age or gender.
