June 10--PORT ORCHARD -- Three residents were forced from their homes last week after city workers triggered a freak fire.
The workers were cutting long grass and blackberries Wednesday morning in Bethel Avenue ditches when their mower sliced a utility pole guy-wire hidden in the brush. The high-tension cable sprang up and smacked a power line, sending a surge to a home on Piperberry Way, just north of Sedgwick Road. The surge blew up the meter box and weather head on the house and the breaker box in a bedroom, starting a fire.
A man and woman sleeping in the home awoke and fled after hearing a bang and smelling smoke.
South Kitsap Fire and Rescue crews responded at about 6:15 a.m. They quickly put out the flames, but water and smoke damage were extensive.
"Almost every bit of their personal belongings in the first house will all have to be replaced," Port Orchard Mayor Tim Matthes said. "There's an awful smoke smell on everything."
A woman living in a smaller residence with the same power source also was displaced.
The city had been putting up the occupants at a hotel, but they've since found temporary housing, Matthes said. Port Orchard's insurance also will pay for that, to replace the residents' belongings, and to repair the homes.
"The city and city insurer will restore them as fast as we can to their residences, but it's going to take a while, probably four to eight weeks," Matthes said.
The residents didn't return phone calls Tuesday.
Copyright 2014 - Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, Wash.
