Firefighters extinguish blaze at Olympia auto business early Thursday morning
Firefighters extinguished a blaze at a gas station and auto service center in east Olympia Thursday morning.
The Olympia Fire Department responded at about 5:36 a.m. to the 2000 block of Fourth Avenue East, Deputy Chief Mike Buchanan said.
Fire crews found an exterior fire that appeared to originate from tires and petroleum drums outside Jerry’s Automotive and Towing, Buchanan said. The business is next to a Texaco gas station and is across the street from Eastside Big Tom. The fire spread into the auto business and caused significant damage in the attic, he said.
“Firefighters quickly extinguished the exterior fire and transitioned to a defensive strategy to address fire in the building’s attic,” Buchanan said. “The aerial master stream from the ladder truck was deployed to suppress the attic fire.”
No one was hurt due to the fire, Buchanan said. The fire occurred before business hours and the building was unoccupied, he added.
A cement fire wall protected a nearby animal hospital from the blaze, Buchanan said, so no other structures were affected.
Fire crews closed Pacific Avenue Southeast from State Avenue Northeast to Fourth Avenue East while they worked to extinguish the blaze, he said.
“Due to the presence of oil in the water runoff, the (Washington state) Department of Ecology was notified,” Buchanan said. “(City of Olympia) Public Works responded to assist with skimming contaminants from nearby storm drains.”
The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of Thursday morning, Buchanan said.
“I’m happy that we were able to control it at the size that we discovered it when we arrived,” Buchanan said. “It could have been bigger.”
