Olympia firefighters responded to a large downtown commercial fire early Wednesday morning that destroyed one building and damaged four others.
The blaze started around 5 a.m. at a five-story building under construction at 310 Capitol Way N., according to the Olympia Fire Department and Thurston County dispatchers. Crews got the fire under control before 10 a.m.
No one was hurt in the blaze, according to the Olympia Fire Department.
The building was a residential project by Olympia developer Walker John called Market Flats. It was directly across the street from the popular 222 Market eateries. Kevin Bossard, assistant chief of operations with the Olympia Fire Department, told The Olympian the building is a total loss.
"It's a pretty tragic, pretty significant economic hit to the city," Bossard said. "You think of the businesses, the value of these buildings, even the impact of shutting down the street. This is really significant. It's just heartbreaking."
Among the other buildings nearby that were damaged were Pete Lea's Automotive Medical Center, Ziegler's Welding and August Creative, a web design consultant. Four of the five buildings impacted suffered significant damage with the fifth suffering minor damage, Bossard said.
"Pete Lea's has been here a long, long time," Bossard said. "Some of these other buildings are historic. Ziegler's has been around a long time. They do a lot of business. It just sad, very sad."
Bossard told The Olympian that damage is at least $1 million, which means the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will assist in the investigation into the origin and cause of the fire.
Two ladder trucks rained water from up high as crews used a drone to assess damage around 10:30 a.m. At the same time, Bossard said crews were picking off hotspots. He couldn't say exactly how long the streets will be closed but the fire department plans to monitor the site into night.
Due to the blaze, Olympia police rerouted traffic around Capitol Way and State Avenue, including Intercity Transit buses, according to a tweet. The Intercity Transit station was closed. Police have asked the public to avoid the area.
Multiple fire engines responded to the three-alarm fire, including some from Lacey Fire District 3.
The blaze was one of several overnight in the Puget Sound region.
The Tukwila Fire Department responded to five suspicious fires that broke out near several businesses. The blazes were extinguished and nobody was injured.
"Obviously suspicious," Tukwila FD PIO Jack Waller told KOMO. "We've got King County investigators, Tukwila fire investigator and Puget Sound fire investigator en route to help."
A commercial fire also broke out Wednesday in Lakewood and smaller fires were reported north of downtown Seattle in a three-story building under construction and home's garage. No injuries were reported.
