Vigil planned for Sunday, Jan. 29 for 5 people who died in house fire near Capitol Forest

A vigil has been planned to celebrate the lives of five family members who died in a house fire Saturday, Jan. 21, near Capitol Forest.

The vigil will take place at 5 p.m. Jan. 29 at the stadium at Tumwater High School, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the family.

The fire happened just after 6:30 a.m. Saturday at Sherman Valley Ranch, near Capitol Forest. Fire units found the home completely engulfed in flames, with five people inside. One juvenile who was visiting the home was able to make it out alive. Some pets also perished in the fire, but no livestock on the ranch were harmed.

The Thurston County Coroner’s Office has not yet officially identified those who died in the fire.

There were two GoFundMe’s set up after the fire, one having almost reached its $10,000 goal by Monday, Jan. 23. The other, with a goal of $50,000, had raised more than $38,000 by Monday afternoon.

Ty Vinson

The Olympian

360-357-0201

Ty Vinson covers the City of Olympia and keeps tabs on Tumwater and other communities in Thurston County. He joined The Olympian in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at the Northwest Indiana Times, the Oregonian and the Arizona Republic as a Pulliam Fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription