BREMERTON — An unattended stove caused major structure damage, but no injuries, in a house fire Nov. 24.

Deputy Fire Marshal Jeff Prichard with the Bremerton Fire Department said that the fire on 20th Street and North Cambrian Avenue started when one of the two renters left a pan on the stove to get hot in order to cook oyster stew. Prichard said that she left it unattended for seven to 12 minutes, causing a fire to start.

Prichard said the woman left the stove to do other tasks while waiting for the pan to heat, and returned because a smoke detector was going off.

She said there were “moderate smoke conditions,” according to Prichard, and “probably about a two foot high by one foot circumference fire on the stove.”

According to Prichard, the fire was getting near the vents and was working its way to the kitchen cabinetry, so the woman knocked the pan onto the floor and tried to smother the fire with a blanket. However, the fire was still going on the stove and was starting to climb the wall, so Prichard said she grabbed a pillow to try to put that out.

“She actually stepped on the blanket and caused some burns to her clothing while trying to extinguish the fire,” Prichard said. “She’s very lucky she didn’t get hurt by trying to put the fire out.”

The next day, the woman reported possible smoke inhalation, but had insisted she wasn’t injured the day of the fire.

Prichard said after that, her neighbor yelled at her to exit the house, which was fully involved in the fire by the time Bremerton Fire arrived. He said there was about $200,000 of damage to the structure and contents of the house.

“Basically, the inside of the home was pretty well gutted,” Prichard said.

Both renters were displaced and are in temporary housing. The owner of the property was notified later the day of the fire.

Prichard said that much of the damage could have been prevented had the woman not disabled most of the house’s smoke alarms.

“She had disabled all but, I think, one in the back bedroom,” he said. “Early notification of the fire probably would have taken place if the one near the kitchen had been operational.

“That would be the take-home point: Make sure you have working smoke alarms in your home … Here’s another case where, again, they were disabled and they … would have prevented the fire from getting as big as it did.”