Bremerton fire department officials plan to return Monday to the scene of a fire that destroyed a duplex in the Anderson Cove neighborhood shortly after sunset on Dec. 23.
While Fire Chief Al Duke said the cause of the fire was accidental, he and others from the department will be at the scene Monday to review it.
“It was an accidental fire,” Duke said. “It was caused by a pot of oil that was cooking on the stove in the upstairs unit. There’s nothing suspicious about this one but when we have a full crew back on duty Monday, we’ll go back out there and take another look.”
Duke said that was customary, and would have been done sooner expect for the Christmas holiday.
The fire, which displaced 10 people, was happened when someone in the upstairs unit attempted to move the pot of hot cooking oil that caught fire on the stove and dropped it.
The call came in to the department just after 5:30 p.m. Dec. 23. It took fire crews about 20 minutes to put out the flames that could be seen shooting from the windows of the duplex. When crews arrived, the residents had already evacuated the building.
No one was injured, although a firefighter twisted his ankle fighting the flames.
Residents of the duplex were assisted by the local branch of the American Red Cross. They are being housed at the Baymont Inn, but spent Christmas Day with relatives in the area.
Since word got out about the fire, community members have been dropping off items the displaced residents at the Baymont Inn front desk, 5640 Kitsap Way.
Jordyn Henning, who shares the downstairs of the duplex with four others, said she was overwhelmed at the help she has received, especially from strangers at Christmas time when everyone is so busy with their own families.
The residents of the duplex also got clothing and diapers from the Red Cross.
A GoFundMe account has been set up by Henning’s friends to benefit the downstairs residents at www.gofundme.com/j9m404.
Two families lived in the downstairs unit and one family lived upstairs, according to the Red Cross which said it has served six families in the area who have been displaced by fire in the past week.
