Firefighters respond to fires in 2 Olympia area homeless encampments

Firefighters put out fires at two different Olympia homeless encampments on Monday, both in densely forested areas.

Around 5:30 p.m. Monday, the Olympia Fire Department was notified of a fire burning near the I-5 northbound off-ramp on Pacific Avenue. When firefighters arrived, they discovered a 20-foot-by-20-foot area containing campsites and brush on fire.

Olympia Fire Battalion Chief Dave Haag said it took firefighters about 10 minutes to put the fire out. As far as OFD could tell, no one was injured by the fire, but no one was at the campsite when firefighters arrived.

Haag said they do not know the cause of the fire and because there was no one for them to interview at the encampment, there’s not much to investigate. He said Olympia police came to the scene to help investigate, but they also had no one to interview.

Olympia Assistant Fire Chief Mike Buchanan said fires at encampments have become hard to investigate. “We don’t have anyone to talk to so we don’t know why or how a fire started,” Buchanan said. They don’t know if the fires are accidental or could be prevented, or if they’re intentional and criminal, he said.

Another fire was reported early Monday in an encampment on Wheeler Avenue, close to the Karen Fraser Woodland trail. OFD responded to a 100-foot-by-50-foot structure and garbage fire at about 12:45 a.m.

When firefighters arrived, they were able to get control of the flames quickly and prevent them from spreading into the surrounding trees. After putting the fire out, fire crews soaked the ground with water to keep the area from smoldering after they left.

During their investigation, firefighters were able to interview the camper who started the fire, Buchanan said. According to him, the fire originated in his propane grill and spread faster than he could contain it.

This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 9:39 AM.