Grease dripping from a porch grill ignited a fire that consumed two residences in Ketchum’s Prospector Condominiums on Saturday and severely damaged a third, Idaho State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl said.
Sandahl said in a Monday call with the Express that the grill did not have a drip cup to catch the grease from a Friday night grilling session at one of the condos, allowing the hot liquid to seep beneath the condo’s ground-level wooden porch. The grease ignited a layer of pine needles and pine nuts that smoldered overnight before the blaze erupted early Saturday morning.
Fire crews from across Blaine County descended on the Warm Springs condo complex beginning around 6:30 a.m. to battle the fire, which burned within a six-unit building, the Express previously reported.
Firefighters from the Ketchum Fire District, Sun Valley Fire Department, BC South Fire Protection District, Hailey Fire Department and Carey Rural Fire District had the fire under control by 10:25 a.m., Ketchum spokesman Daniel Hansen said, though crews remained on scene after that to await an investigator from the state fire marshal’s office and set up a watch until Saturday evening.
“Two of the six units are a total loss, with a third suffering major smoke and water damage,” Hansen said.
Hansen added that no injuries to residents or firefighters were reported, “although one occupant had a very close call.”
“It is believed there are three residents that will be displaced at this time,” he said. “Ketchum Fire and the city of Ketchum are working on finding temporary accommodations for the occupants.”
Sandahl said area residents must clear grilling areas of duff, keep their grills clean and use drip cups to catch leaking grease.
Responding to a question about who’s responsible for paying for the damage, he said the insurers of the two units damaged by the grilling fire that started in the third unit could seek payment through “subrogation,” “a long, drawn-out process” during which they would file a claim against the insurer of the party responsible for the blaze. 
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