A man’s partially constructed and off-grid home was destroyed in a fire thought to have started in a chimney overnight between Kingston and Poulsbo.

Fire crews were called to a Dawn Breaker Drive address at 12:50 a.m. Sept. 4 after a neighbor called 911 to describe smoke and flames visible through the trees. Dawn Breaker Drive serves homes deep in the woods between Port Gamble Road and Miller Bay Road.

The first unit, from North Kitsap Fire & Rescue’s Suquamish station, arrived at the difficult-to-access scene down a steep driveway in just over 10 minutes and reported the 671-foot structure to be fully involved in flames.

Fire had caused significant damage to the man’s Jeep, which was parked about 10 feet from the home, and flames started spreading into the woods. There are no fire hydrants so firefighters used water from their engines’ tanks as well as from tender trucks to knock down the blaze.

Units from Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island and Central Kitsap then returned to their stations. NKF&R crews spent another several hours digging through debris to make sure that all hot spots were extinguished.

The occupant said that a fire had been started in the home’s woodstove earlier in the evening. Later, he saw flames through a skylight and evacuated from the structure. Although the man said he’d cleaned the chimney, the investigator believes that material inside the flue ignited and spread easily due to inadequate clearances between the chimney and the home’s combustible components.

Fire officials recommend that fireplace and woodstove chimneys be professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year. The home was not insured; the man is receiving assistance from the American Red Cross.