Nobody was injured in a house fire early Saturday morning in the Rolling Hills neighborhood of North Whidbey, according to fire officials.

The one-story manufactured home on Carl Avenue was destroyed completely. North Whidbey Battalion Chief Daniel Horton said he does not know where the homeowner is staying.

North and Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue and a Navy crew arrived at the scene at around 1 a.m., he said. It took about five hours to contain the flames.

While explosions were heard, possibly due to fireworks, officials have not identified the cause of the fire yet, Horton said.

The owner of the house, 57-year-old Paul Moyers, had recently been released from jail pending trial in a 2023 case in which he assaulted a deputy, resisted arrest and tried to take a deputy’s gun, according to court documents.

Court documents show that Moyers has been arrested multiple times on suspicion of felony crimes over the years.

In 2019, deputies arrested Moyers on suspicion of malicious mischief and resisting arrest after he fought five officers who came to arrest him following 11 reports of harassing his neighbors.

“Everybody knows who he is,” Island County Sheriff Rick Felici said.

Following the 2019 incident, a judge in Island County Superior Court ordered that Moyers be interviewed by a mental health professional for possible commitment to a mental treatment facility.

Just weeks after his court hearing, Moyers was arrested again following a police chase, where officers responded to a report of a possibly intoxicated driver on Highway 20.

Once again, the judge ordered Moyers to be evaluated by a mental health professional. The psychologist concluded that Moyers may suffer from bipolar disorder and methamphetamine addiction, according to court documents.

According to both Horton and Felici, Saturday’s incident is still under investigation.

If the fire was started by fireworks, it was one of several pyrotechnic-related incidents this month on Whidbey Island. Over the long Fourth of July weekend, two people suffered serious hand injuries from fireworks; in both cases, the patients had to be transported off island for advanced medical care. A third person suffered burns to the hands and was treated at the ER, according to WhidbeyHealth Medical Center.

North and Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue and a Navy crew arrived at the scene at around 1 a.m. on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Ricardo De Castro)

The one-story manufactured home on Carl Avenue was destroyed completely Saturday night. (Photo courtesy of Ricardo De Castro)