Firefighters contain North Kitsap home blaze likely started by charging vape pen

NORTH KITSAP – Firefighters said a woman closing a door in a home off Miller Bay Road was critical in keeping a fire under control Friday night.

Firefighters were called to a home on Early Dawn Lane at about 6:30 p.m. and found smoke coming out of the structure's basement. They pulled 400 feet of hose, and snuffed the blaze with less than 50 gallons of water, according to North Kitsap Fire and Rescue.

Damage was limited to one room, and light smoke affected other areas of the basement. The residents of the home were not displaced by the incident.

A couple at the home told first responders that they had been at home when alarms activated throughout the residence. As her husband called 911, a woman searched for the source of the alarm and found smoke coming from behind a closed door on the basement level. She opened the door and quickly closed it again, an action that firefighters said was instrumental in keeping the fire small by depriving it of oxygen, North Kitsap Fire and Rescue said in a news release.

The Kitsap County Fire Marshal's Office investigated the fire, and evidence and witness statements pointed to a malfunction in a charging vape pen as the likely cause of the blaze, North Kitsap Fire and Rescue said.

A charging vape pen was also named as the likely cause of a fire at the Village Green Senior Apartments in Kingston in January.

Nathan Pilling is a reporter covering Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap and Washington State Ferries for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-5242, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @KSNatePilling.

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This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Vape pen deemed likely cause of fire at North Kitsap home