Two Gold Bar residential fires may have been caused by smoking

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 25, 2017

GOLD BAR — Two recent Gold Bar-area fires may have been related to smoking.

Investigators are wrapping up their case in the March 20 fatal fire on May Creek Road. Richard Olson, Jr., 68, was killed.

There was not enough information to pinpoint a cause of the fire, Snohomish County Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Lorentzen said Tuesday. Cigarettes could not be ruled out, he said.

The property damage was estimated at $200,000.

An April 4 fire on Goldbar Boulevard left a man in intensive care. He was rescued by a neighbor and survived.

That fire was ruled an accident because of smoking, Lorentzen said. The home was heavily damaged.