A desire to keep ducks warm led to the fiery destruction of a yurt in the 400 block of Egg & I Ridge Road Thursday afternoon. There were no injuries but the two human residents of the yurt were displaced.

The residents told EJFR that they were using a heat lamp to keep some ducks warm on the front porch and then left the structure.

The yurt caught fire but an EJFR firefighter happened to notice a dark plume of smoke from the blaze as he was backing an engine into the Chimacum Fire Station.

The firefighter called 911 at 3:17 p.m. to report the smoke. Shortly thereafter, neighbors of the yurt called 911 to report a fire.

Firefighters arrived to find the yurt fully engulfed in flames and began a defensive attack to protect surrounding vegetation and a nearby home.

The fire was knocked down in approximately 15 minutes.

The ducks, sadly, did not survive.

"I believe they were living ducks … age unknown," said Bill Beezley with EJFR of the feathered fire victims.

"They were roasted in the fire."

The residents, who didn’t have renter’s insurance, were offered the services of The American Red Cross but declined, citing offers by friends in the area.

Firefighters from Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue and Quilcene Fire Rescue assisted on the call.