Firefighters respond to fires in southeast Thurston County, downtown Olympia Tuesday
Fire crews battled fires in southeast Thurston County and downtown Olympia Tuesday afternoon, authorities say.
The fire downtown was quickly extinguished, while the response in the Bald Hills area lasted hours and drew several agencies, including the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
About 4 p.m. Tuesday, Bald Hills Fire Department crews responded to a report of fire on the 16400 block of Cougar Village Lane Southeast, Fire Chief Mark Gregory told The Olympian. The call started as a non-threatening brush fire, Gregory said, but changed when the fire spread to a trailer on the property.
Several semitrailers and other heavy equipment sat on the lot of cleared, undeveloped land, Gregory said. When crews arrived, they found there were several burn piles and a large burn pit. It appeared a fire had extended to one of the trailers, burned at least one tree, and was starting to spread onto land east of the trailers, according to Gregory.
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Crews from Southeast Thurston Fire Authority, South Thurston Fire, and Lacey Fire District 3 responded to the scene, Gregory said, along with DNR.
The department sent a helicopter, two engines, investigators, and a crew to help prevent the fire’s spread on the ground, DNR spokesperson Thomas Kyle-Milward told The Olympian.
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Bald Hills turned the scene over to DNR about 7 p.m., Gregory said, though crews from the department stayed until about 10:30 p.m. No injuries had been reported, and reported damage was limited to belongings of the property owner, Gregory said.
About an acre of land burned, according to Kyle-Milward. Crews with DNR left about 11 p.m. Tuesday, he said, and returned early Wednesday to mop up hot spots.
The fire’s cause was still under investigation Wednesday, but Kyle-Milward said 197 of 478 fires DNR has responded to this year have been the result of debris burns that have escaped.
About the same time Tuesday, at roughly 4 p.m., Olympia Fire Department responded to a brush fire in the area of the 900 block of Plum Street Southeast, Assistant Fire Chief Mike Buchanan told The Olympian.
They arrived to find a grass fire that had grown to cover a 25-foot-by-50-foot area behind state buildings there, near railroad tracks, according to Buchanan. The blaze was reportedly moving through blackberry bushes and grass along the tracks.
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Crews had the fire extinguished by 4:45 p.m., Buchanan said. No injuries or damage to state buildings were reported, and homeless encampments in the area also appeared unaffected. No roads needed to be closed to fight the brush fire, Buchanan said.
The cause of the fire in Olympia was unknown Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 10:40 AM.
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