By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The cause of the fatal house fire in Packwood just before Christmas is going to be undetermined.
Fire Investigator Derrick Paul said he has some suspicions and theories that fit, but without proof he can’t say for sure.
Michael J. Pierson, 56, lived alone there according to his family, Lewis County Fire District 10 Chief Lonnie Goble said.
[1]Dec. 20, 2016
While the coroner has not yet confirmed the identity of the victim, the family has placed an obituary for the Packwood man.
Born in Morton Pierson was injured in a logging accident in his early 20s and unable to work again, according to the notice published by Cattermole Funeral Home. He leaves behind his mother, a brother, a sister, two children and two grandchildren, the obituary states.
The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has established he died from smoke inhalation.
The fire at the modular home behind the Chevron gas station along U.S. Highway 12 was reported about 5:20 a.m. on Dec. 20.
Chief Goble said when they arrived, only half the house was engulfed in flames as the fire had already moved from the other side. The roof had already collapsed, he said.
It turns out it had been burning as early as 3:15 a.m., based on footage from the gas station’s security system, Goble said. Around 4:15 a.m., a large explosion could be seen, which may have been a window blowing out, he said.
“How the neighbors didn’t hear that, I don’t know,” he said. “The fire could have started at 12 o’clock that night, no one really knows.”
Once the fire was extinguished, the man presumed to be Pierson was found dead inside.
Goble said Pierson walked with a cane whenever he’d see him in town, and had very poor vision. The family told Goble and Paul that Pierson sometimes smoked in bed and had mishaps with lit cigarettes.
“He’d put cigarettes out and it would be on the night stand instead of the ashtray,” Goble said.
An errant cigarette is one of the investigator’s theories as to the cause of the fire. Paul said the bed was in the front room and the fire started around the bed.
Paul was also fairly certain there was not a working smoke detector in the house. Some of the rooms were still intact and he didn’t find a smoke detector, he said.
“Whether it would have saved his life, we don’t know,” Paul said. “But I have never had a fire fatality with a working smoke detector in 20 years.”
Paul said once the coroner verifies the victim’s identity, he can finalize his fire report. And the official cause will be undetermined.
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For background, read “One dead in Packwood house fire” from Tuesday December 20, 2016, here [2]