Downtown Bellingham apartment fire ‘did appear to be intentionally set’

Bellingham Police are investigating a suspicious fire that started Wednesday morning in a downtown Bellingham apartment at Francis Place.

Bellingham Fire was dispatched to a structure fire at 1122 Cornwall Ave. in Suite 212 at 10:52 a.m. Wednesday, according to Pulse Point.

“We got a call for a report of smoke in a room,” Bellingham Fire Assistant Chief Bill Hewett said. “The first unit on scene found a small fire and quickly extinguished it.”

Hewett said there were no reported injuries from the fire, and damage was limited to the contents of the room, rather than the structure, though crews did remain on scene to remove smoke from the complex.

But it was the appearance of several small fires in the room that caught the interest of fire fighters, Hewett said.

“That can be an indication that a fire was intentionally set,” Hewett said. “Our fire investigator processed the scene, and we worked with the Bellingham Police Department on the investigation part. ... From our standpoint, it did appear to be intentionally set.”

Hewett said police are handling further investigation.

Francis Place is a housing program operated by Catholic Community Services of Western Washington, providing 42 units of affordable housing to individuals that have experienced chronic homelessness, according to the website for The Volunteer Center of Whatcom County.

This story will be updated.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 10:03 AM with the headline "Downtown Bellingham apartment fire ‘did appear to be intentionally set’."