Bainbridge fire marshal says oil-soaked rags caused home fire

Published 5:10 pm Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A fire that heavily damaged a home on Olympic Terrace Monday evening has been ruled accidental.

Bainbridge Island Fire Marshal Luke Carpenter said the fire was caused by “spontaneous combustion” after the homeowner had left a pile of rags soaked with a linseed oil-based stain on top of a small plastic storage shed. The rags later caught fire after sitting for hours in 85-degree heat.

The homeowner had been staining a deck at the rear of the home in the 11000 block of Olympic Terrace, and finished work on the deck a little after 3 p.m. Monday.

“When he got all done with it, he took this pile of rags and set it on top of a Rubbermaid storage shed,” Carpenter said.

Later that afternoon, residents of the home noticed a chemical smell but could not find the source of the odor.

Not long after 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15, neighbors saw flames coming from the home and alerted the residents and got them out of the house.

“They hadn’t even known it had started,” Carpenter said of the residents, who were on the opposite side of the house at the time.

The fire started on the storage shed, which had two lawnmowers and a rototiller inside that helped fuel the blaze, and it then spread to the home.

Radiant heat from the fire set another storage shed ablaze that had a riding lawnmower and other flammables inside.

“When the fire department arrived, we had flames on the left side of the house, that larger storage building, and flames from the attic,” Carpenter said.

Flames had also spread to nearby trees and were 75 feet up into the branches.

Firefighters initially fought the blaze from outside.

Units were also called in from North Kitsap Fire & Rescue and the Poulsbo Fire Department.

All told, 17 firefighters from Bainbridge Island — including three engines, two tenders and two medic units — responded to the fire.

Three apparatus and six firefighters from off-island also assisted.

“It took us about 40 minutes to get the fire under control,” Carpenter said.

No one inside the two-story home was injured, and no firefighters were hurt, either.

The second floor of the home was heavily damaged, and the roof collapsed onto the second floor. Other parts of the home sustained water and smoke damage.

One side of the home was largely unscathed, however.

Firefighters were at the scene of the fire for about four hours.

With help from local law enforcement, the family spent the night at a Bainbridge hotel.

Carpenter said investigators have determined that the fire originated from the pile of rags.

Interviews with witnesses and the homeowners have prompted authorities to believe the cause of the fire was accidental.

Linseed-based products are highly susceptible to spontaneous combustion, Carpenter said.

“This is not the first fire we’ve had from this. It is a very real thing,” he said.

“We’ve had at least one or two others caused from the same thing,” Carpenter said.