Heater, Outlet Suspected In Deadly Fire Fourth Body Recovered From Ruins Of Bremerton Apartments

The body of a fourth victim of a deadly apartment fire was recovered Sunday as investigators concluded the blaze may have started with a baseboard heater or an electrical outlet.

All residents of the 140-unit Kona Village Apartments now are accounted for, said Jane Jermy, Kitsap County chief deputy coroner.

The fire started in Apartment 316 early Thursday, and investigators are studying a baseboard heater and an electrical outlet from that unit as possible causes, said Jim Provencher, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The ATF completed its part of the investigation Sunday.

The Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory will conduct some tests on the heater, said Provencher, who works out of the ATF’s Seattle office.

“The electrical outlet has not been recovered, but it’s a possible source just by virtue of the fact that it’s electrical and on the wall where the fire may have started,” he said.

Chaplains from the ATF and Bremerton Police Department met Sunday with fire survivors and the agents who spent four days conducting “the unfortunate task of body recovery,” Provencher said.

Two bodies were recovered Friday in the rubble; another body was found Thursday as firefighters attacked the blaze.

The victim found Sunday was Gladys Curtis, 91, who died in her bed, Jermy said.

The other victims were identified as Virginia Campbell, 75; her husband, George Campbell, 76; and Hugh Sharp, 87, Jermy said.

All of them had lived on the fourth floor, she said.

Residents of Apartment 316 were not home at the time of the fire.

The fire caused an estimated $7.5 million in property damage.

It left about 150 people homeless, but authorities said all have found temporary places to stay.

Many of the residents were near retirement age or older, and many lived on fixed incomes, Red Cross workers said.