There was an apartment fire on the 100 block of Inman Street in Ketchikan over the weekend. No injuries were reported. One of the city’s main arteries, Stedman Street, was closed while the Ketchikan Fire Department responded to the blaze.
KFD and the Ketchikan Police Department have launched a joint investigation into the cause of the fire. Witnesses claimed seeing the sole resident of the apartment, Belinda Nelson, leaving the building just 20 minutes before the fire was reported. Nelson is being charged with arson.
Police Sgt. Mike Paulsen determined the fire stemmed from five different piles of paper, plastic, and clothes – two in the living room, two in the bedroom, and one in the bathroom.
The fire was first reported by a Ketchikan resident driving by that reported seeing smoke billowing from a bedroom window. Police Lt. Mike Purcell says fire crews were able to contain it to one apartment of the 6 unit structure.
According to charging documents, in the week leading up to alleged arson, Nelson had been served an eviction notice for nonpayment of rent. The termination of tenancy stated that she had to move out by Monday, Jan. 22.
