Unstable roof forces assisted-living facility to move clients

Fire officials evacuated a wing of Olympics West Retirement Inn on Trosper Road Friday night because of an unstable roof that might have been caused by the heavy snow load weighed down by moisture from the rain, Tumwater Fire Lt. Dale Britton said.

Fire officials evacuated a wing of the assisted-living facility located at 929 Trosper Road around 4:48 p.m. after a resident on the second floor was having trouble opening a door and noticed that the door and part of the floor were sagging, Britton said.

The unstable roof affected four rooms that were evacuated, Britton said.

"There's indications that the roof is unstable," Britton said.

About 65 seniors who are clients at the facility were evacuated to a dining area in a section of the building that is safe and unaffected by the possibly-unstable roof, Britton said.

A Tumwater city building official was assessing the damage Friday night, Britton said. "He's in there right now getting a look at it," Britton said. The building official directed maintenance staff at the facility to get up on the roof and begin removing snow, Britton added.

"There's no indications yet that he feels that it's going to collapse," Britton said of the city engineer.

The roof is "just weighted down with snow and extra rainwater is what he's saying," Britton said.

Everyone was safe Friday night and the roof had not collapsed, Britton said.

Britton said fire officials were working on finding an alternate place to stay for the affected clients of the assisted-living center.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com.