IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT if you will… A terrible nightmare. You are home alone on your day off from work when there’s an explosion outside. BLAM! Your body bolts upright and rigid. What was that? You think. After the explosion, it’s quiet for a moment. You’re startled. But it’s July, so you assume it’s probably fireworks. You settle back into what you were doing. Then, there’s another. BLAM! BLAM! And there’s a pounding at your door. It’s your neighbor. Frantic. “Your.. House.. Is… On Fire!!!” They scream. You need to get yourself and anything you can grab in a matter of seconds, out of the house, now. The house next door is already completely engulfed in flames, surging 20-feet-tall, spreading quickly and licking at the outside of your house and the top of your roof. Smoke billows. Sirens blare. Your pets and everything you own is still inside…
An estimated 350,000 house fires happen annually in the United States. The Washington State Fire Marshal’s Office reported more than 9,000 structure fires statewide in 2024. Often, one of those fires can consume multiple residences. Earlier this summer, a house fire off Chico in the Erlands Point neighborhood started at one residence and spread to three. Another residential fire was reported off Kitsap Way while this story was on deadline. But this particular fire (from the nightmare outlined above) happened July 18, 2024 in the Union Hill neighborhood on 5th Street in Bremerton.
Eric and Kristen, a local couple who had just gotten married, bought a house on Fifth Street (and said they hadn’t even had time for a honeymoon before the whole thing went down) were devastated. There were no human fatalities. Kristen said the neighbors helped retrieve the dogs after getting her out and treated for minor smoke inhalation. Two cats were trapped upstairs and lost their lives, and the couple lost 90% of their belongings. When the immediate horror is over, when the blaze has burned out, and the wreckage settles, the question becomes who is responsible for damages when a fire that started next door burns your house down? Typically, this is an insurance thing. A typical homeowner’s insurance policy includes several types of coverage. It can range from ‘dwelling’ and ‘personal property’ coverage to ‘loss of use’ coverage and personal liability protection for if a fire starting on your property spreads and causes damage to a neighbor’s property. Provided with substantial evidence that the fire began at the property next door, you or your homeowner’s insurance provider would be able to legally pursue the insurance provider for (or the property owner of) the property next door to recoup damages above what is provided for within your coverage.
But this was not a typical house fire.
What’s different in this case is that the owner of the property next door (a landlord who didn’t live at the property) did not have liability insurance. The landlord had also been foreclosed upon and was potentially filing for bankruptcy, which therefore didn’t justify a legal campaign (according to lawyers for Eric & Kristen’s insurance company) on the grounds that there were not enough assets to pursue. And while the investigator hired by the insurance company filed a report determining the fire next door had been set intentionally, the exact cause of fire was never determined by city officials. What’s also different in this case, the property next door had been reported as a ‘nuisance property’ multiple times over more than a decade.
Cities have nuisance ordinances which impose fines or punishment on property owners for a wide variety of the growing legal definition of a ‘nuisance.’ Nuisance ordinances were once a means of preventing unhealthy or unwanted properties from being developed near family residence… think, a heavily polluting factory moving into a neighborhood of family homes. In more recent history, the idea of the apartment complex became viewed as a ‘nuisance property’ through the lens of property owners in areas zoned for single family homes. Currently, local nuisance property ordinances are defined by things like excessive garbage, abandoned vehicles, overgrown vegetation impeding on city or neighboring property, excessive noise, etc., and, of course, criminal or drug activity. The general public can submit nuisance ordinance complaints. If enough complaints are filed against the same property within a certain span of time, the city ordinance can enforce fines or civil punishments against the property owner—with a fines of up to $1000 or further $100 per day in the current Bremerton city code as updated in 2008. But it’s also notoriously difficult to enforce. The city cannot enter the premise or infringe on the rights of tenants or transients of the property without proper cause beyond the nuisance complaints. They can only issue citations against the property owner who must then take the steps to rid the property of the nuisance.
Documents show more than $30,000 in unpaid fines and fees dating back to 2009 related to the landlord of the house next door on 5th Street where this fire started.
In a search for closure and an answer for who is financially responsible for damages following the tragedy, Kristen tracked down documents through public records requests, finding details about the property owner and tracking the nuisance property complaints. She also questioned why a proper cause of the fire was not determined before the structure was demolished, just seven days afterwards during an open fire investigation. In multiple attempts, Kristen said she tried to get City officials to work with her to find the rightful owner, to no avail. The greater community, however, did step up and raised some $16,000 for the couple through a GoFundMe in the aftermath. At the beginning of October, as they finally received the certificate of occupancy to return to their rebuilt home (more than a year after the fire) Eric said he’s disappointed in the leadership of the town that he grew up in. At this point, he wonders if there will ever be any answers, closure or financial resolve. He says they wanted to share their story in the hope of preventing this situation from happening to anyone else. // BILL MAN
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME is a good time to check your smoke alarms and fire extinguishers. Check in on the coverage details of your homeowners’ or renters’ insurance. And check with your local fire department for preparedness tips.
