A Kasaan family lost their home to a fire on Monday.
No one was hurt in the blaze. The residents of the home – a mother, her two children, and 8 pets – managed to escape successfully.
Village Public Safety Officer Zach West said they responded to the fire around 4pm. By the time they arrived, the fire had already spread under the floorboards and almost fully engulfed the home.
“[The house was] right on the ocean, and we have a southeast wind that blows in that direction, basically right into that house. And so we had a reasonable amount of wind that pushed that fire pretty quick,” said West.
According to the VPSO, the cause of the fire hasn’t been confirmed, but the resident said in a GoFundMe fundraiser that it started unexpectedly from a cigarette ember.
Kasaan is a very small village on Prince of Wales Island. West said it is a devastating loss for the family, who has to rebuild without any insurance coverage to fall back on.
“It was a total, total loss,” said West. “And I don’t think that there’s any financial element on the other side of that to help compensate with anything.”
The fire also destroyed outbuildings and a travel trailer but did not spread beyond the property.
