A major fire on Minnow Creek near Pinneo Road is now extinguished.

Orcas Island Fire and Rescue crews were called to the scene of a wildland fire at 3 a.m. on July 25. It is believed to have begun in a cabin and then spread to the land nearby. By the morning, the fire was contained to approximately one acre when crews from San Juan Island District 3 arrived to assist OIFR. The fire was fully extinguished by the afternoon.

OIFR will remain on scene for final mop up, which is expected to last until 6 p.m. The fire resulted in the loss of a cabin and an outbuilding, as well as just over an acre in wildland. There were no injuries reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

OIFR thanks all volunteer and staff responders from Orcas, San Juan and Department of Natural Resources as well as to the auxiliary who provided meals for the fire fighters on scene and upon return to the station this evening.

“Our firefighters are heroes. If the fire had burned much longer it may not have been able to be extinguished,” said Learner Limbach, who lives nearby and called the fire in at 3:07 a.m. “They were on the scene in less than 10 minutes. I can’t say enough about the response and I’m thankful no one was hurt.”

The fire was discovered by Limbach’s friends, who were staying at a nearby property on Orcas Road. They woke up when they heard several explosions, which they said sounded like gunshots. Luckily they went to investigate and saw the fire from across the field and notified Limbach.

“Sometimes crawling out of bed to investigate a sound can make the difference in getting responders to the scene in time,” said Limbach.