Investigators suspect arson may have caused a house fire in the Tanglewilde area near Lacey early Thursday morning.
Lacey Fire District 3 responded after 2 a.m. to the house fire on the 400 block of Viking Street Southeast, Deputy Chief of Operations Jennifer Schmidt said. Fire crews arrived within eight minutes and put out the blaze in about 20 minutes, she said.
Schmidt described the fire as "suspicious in nature." In a Facebook post, the Thurston County Sheriff's Office said it suspects arson caused the blaze. The post says the fire was not a random act and there is no danger to the community.
"We actually still have an investigator there on scene working with the Thurston County Sheriff's Office right now doing some coordinated efforts on investigation," Schmidt said Thursday morning.
Deputies located an occupant down the street at a neighbor's home, Schmidt said. Medical units evaluated the occupant and transported the person to an area hospital, she said.
Medics also transported a Lacey firefighter who sustained minor burns when responding to the blaze, Schmidt said. The firefighter will make a full recovery, she added.
The fire caused significant damage throughout the home, Schmidt said. No neighboring structures were damaged and no other people were harmed, she said.
"Like all house fires and developments, they absolutely can spread quickly," Schmidt said. "In this case, there wasn't any significant spread that we're aware of."
Ten fire response units from Lacey and Olympia responded to help put out the blaze, Schmidt said. "We're grateful for our partnerships with fire and law enforcement agencies," Schmidt said. "It's always difficult when we have a member that gets injured, but, for the most part, the event was mitigated very quickly and very professionally."
