Cause unknown in ‘suspicious’ Rainier mobile home fire, officials say

Six agencies responded to a mobile home fire on Monday evening in Rainier after neighbors noticed smoke, officials say.

Crews quickly contained the fire at the home off of Snowcap Lane SE, but its origins are unknown. The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office will investigate the cause, which fire officials labeled as “suspicious.”

No one was injured, and the resident was not home at the time of the fire.

“The fire started on the porch,” McLane-Black Lake battalion chief Andy Speier said. “There isn’t a good reason for the fire to have started on the porch, so we’re trying to find out why that is.”

Bald Hills deputy fire chief Steven Slater said he did not initially suspect arson.

“There are a lot of things that can happen. ... I have no reason right now to suspect that,” he said.

Agencies were dispatched just after 5 p.m. Slater said the fire had reached the inside of the home when units arrived. The fire extended into the attic space, Speier said, and smoke spread. But crews extinguished the fire before it could reach the rest of the home.

“It’s still standing,” Slater said. “We got a very good initial hit on the fire, so it wasn’t burning rapidly.”

This story was originally published July 17, 2017 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Cause unknown in ‘suspicious’ Rainier mobile home fire, officials say."