BELLINGHAM, Wash. - There were no injuries in a two-alarm fire that destroyed three century-old buildings in downtown Bellingham.
The fire broke out about 2:30 a.m. Monday and spread quickly through the vacant wooden buildings in the Old Town area. It was still burning at dawn.
Fire Chief Bill Boyd said firefighters were unable to enter and the buildings turned into a bonfire.
Antique dealer Sharon Elton, who has a shop adjacent to the fire scene, said she got a call at about 2:30 a.m. that the "whole area was on fire."
"It was horrific, we saw the first building crash down," she said. "It was quite frightening."
Elton said the buildings have been vacant for about a year.
"They are abandoned, so they are, unfortunately, ripe for something like this to happen," said Teri Krantz, also an antique dealer.
The cause of the fire is undetermined and an investigation will take days. Transients may have been staying in the buildings.
The buildings on the south side of West Holly Street at West Champion Street had housed an antique shop, furniture store and another retail business.
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