A single-wide manufactured home in South Kitsap was destroyed by fire early Monday morning (May 16) at the 4400 block of Eastway Drive SW.

South Kitsap Fire and Rescue crews were called to the house fire, which was fully involved by the time they arrived. The house was completely gutted.

The residents of the house, a married couple and their small child, were out of the area at the time of the fire. A 38-year-old woman who was housesitting was awakened at 1:32 a.m. by the smell of smoke and left the residence, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Scott Wilson said.

The woman told investigators she saw a man she knew of who was standing outside the house at the time. He apparently had been hired to do chores at the home. When she asked him what had happened, the woman said he ran off.

Shortly after he left, the house sitter said flames from underneath the structure began appearing. The woman was not injured.The man, reportedly 51 years old, is a person of interest in an investigation being conducted by the Kitsap County Fire Marshal’s Office. Wilson said Fire Marshal David Lynam will make a determination whether arson or a structural issue caused the fire.

The person of interest, Wilson said, is not currently a suspect. “There is no cause to arrest him,” he said. “We’re just trying to put the pieces of this story together.”