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An ember believed windblown from remains of a fire left smoldering in a beach fireplace set fire to vegetation and a corner of a neighboring property building at 15796 Snee Oosh Road early Saturday morning, July 30.

Sarah Chase woke up around 3 a.m., telling her partner, Dieter Drews, she smelled smoke, thinking it was down on the beach. It was much closer: the back corner of their “rec room,” a free standing one-story building abutting the property line was in flames, and some of their wooden fence and ivy on two Douglas fir trees at 15770 Snee Oosh Road next door caught fire.

Chase called 911 at 3:05 a.m. after Drews realized the situation required the fire department. He called it “just a miracle” that only that building caught fire. He depicted the fire as “moving very quickly” and responded with his own fast action of spraying it with their garden hose – which was insufficient – until fire vehicles arrived. He said a police officer came first.

Chase described the flames as “torching” in the ivy and moving up the trees.

Drews recounted the fire marshal or other staff believed “an ember just landed perfectly here, with a ring pattern that went from the ground up.”

A Fire District 13 crew came with their brush truck at 3:10 a.m. and had the fire out within five minutes, Fire Chief Wood Weiss told the Weekly News. “It came from the outside,” he said. Some 1,000 gallons of water was pumped at onto the 15 foot x 20 foot structure, fence and surrounding vegetation.

The fire’s cause is under investigation by the Skagit County Fire Marshal. Professionals will not speculate on the source.

Fire, smoke and water damage to the building was extensive and Drews fears the building will be a total loss. Sunday afternoon the entire northeast corner was open to the outside, showing the holes in the fence where slats had burned. Several were charred black and lying on the ground. Insulation hung from the room’s ceiling, which was also open and sagged and a large puddle of water was on the floor.

Loss involved more than the structure, Drews noted, and includes personal family photos, an Oriental rug, piano, antique furniture, a treadmill, chest freezer (and contents) and other incidentals compromised or lost. The couple’s “rec room” was a space used for exercise, music, yoga, painting, watching movies and as a refuge to reflect with peace and quiet.

Their next door neighbor went into her large-windowed studio room at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with her cup of coffee, as she always does, and “there it was,” she said, “ten feet from my window.” Seeing the charred fence she understood the knocking on her door around 3 a.m. was first responders and not a woodpecker in a tree.

“Today (Sunday) I am as mad as hell. They disrespected the burn ban.” She contacted the Weekly News as a community service to get the word out.

“If we can save the whole reservation (by promoting the burn ban) I will be most grateful,” she said. She did not want her name used.

Drews estimated a party of 10 to 15 young adults were partying above the beach at their fire pit, a substantial concrete opening built into the bulkhead, with the back wall at least five feet high. He noted it is “no small space and can pack a ton of wood if one desired. The charred sides are evidence enough that some large fires have burned there.”

Drews and Chase surmised their neighbors went to bed without ensuring the fire was out. Chase had seen a fire there earlier and Drews saw smoke late.

The property at 15800 Snee Oosh is owned by several members of the Hulbert family. Drews called it a family club house for the younger generation.

“I haven’t heard a word from them. I haven’t heard a word from the responsible owners. They are aware of it. That’s disappointing.”

He estimates it will be next spring before a contractor will schedule what will probably be replacing the building and that is after the insurance companies settle. “It’s a hassle, the hassle and the disruption of life to bring everything back to normal,” one to which he is not looking forward.

In an understatement, Drews called the fire and its aftermath very disruptive.

Two fire departments arrived: Fire District 13 and Anacortes Fire Department. La Conner’s fire department was told to stand down.

Skagit County Fire Marshal’s staff examined the site Saturday. The cause of the fire is under investigation and a report completed Tuesday by Bonnie LaCount, deputy fire marshal.

The county burn ban allows recreational fires, limited to three feet in diameter with burned material kept below the top of an enclosure that is at least 14 inches high, no wider than three feet, and made of cement blocks, stones, or #10-gauge steel. A person 16 years old or older must always be present to monitor and extinguish the fire.