Downtown Olympia apartment fire displaces one on Monday afternoon

The Olympia Fire Department has opened an investigation into an apartment fire that started in the heart of downtown Olympia early Monday afternoon.

Assistant Fire Chief Mike Buchanan said the fire started in the early afternoon in a single-person unit of a 12-unit apartment building above the 4th Ave Tavern at 210 Fourth Ave. E. It didn’t take long for the fire to be extinguished.

Buchanan said the single apartment was badly damaged and the person living there will need to find a new home. He said the department is working to get them connected with the American Red Cross.

The department is investigating what started the fire, Buchanan said.

This story was originally published February 6, 2023 at 2:03 PM.

Ty Vinson

The Olympian

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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