The air in Bainbridge’s Crystal Springs neighborhood was down a few carats when a house burst into flames the evening of April 16.

Bainbridge Island Fire Department responded to reports of triggered smoke alarms at 5:39 p.m. Soon after several emergency calls reported smoke and flames coming from the house at 5011 Crystal Springs Drive NE. Kitsap 911 upgraded the response to a residential structure fire.

When fire chief Jared Morevac and his team arrived, flames already engulfed the attic and licked the roof of the home, he said. First responders searched the interior to ensure that no one was in the building, then began to tackle the bulk of the fire on the exterior.

The blaze in the attic complicated fire response, Morevac said. “Crews had to systematically work through the home, pulling down portions of the ceiling to gain access to the attic space to extinguish the fire there. It took about two hours to get the fire under control,” he said, adding the property is a “total loss.”

In total, about 30 personnel and 15 units from BI, Poulsbo, North Kitsap and Navy Region Northwest fought the blaze. The exact cause is under investigation, but the U.S. Fire Administration reports that the most common cause of roof and attic fires is faulty electrical wiring.