A fire broke out Wednesday at a homeless encampment along Interstate 5 in Olympia that's slated to be cleared soon.
The fire started before 2:15 p.m. Wednesday near the intersection of Sleater Kinney Road Northeast and Martin Way East, said Kevin Bossard, Assistant Chief of Operations for the Olympia Fire Department.
Firefighters found three vacant structures on fire and easily extinguished them, Bossard said. No one was injured by the fire, he added.
State troopers provided traffic control for about 30 minutes, Trooper John Dattilo said. In that time, he said a small propane tank exploded and first responders separately aided a person at the camp who suffered a seizure.
The encampment is one of five in Thurston County that has been targeted by Gov. Jay Inslee's Rights of Way Initiative, an effort to clear encampments along state freeways and move occupants into better living conditions.
Local and state agencies intend to move those living at the encampment into Maple Court, a new homeless shelter in Lacey on Quinault Drive Northeast near Marvin Road. The shelter, which was previously a Days Inn hotel, began accepting residents this week.
The nonprofit Low-Income Housing Institute will manage the shelter. It features 118 furnished rooms and six rooms for staff and case-management offices, according to a Wednesday news release from the Thurston County Regional Housing Council.
The Thurston County region received about $37 million from the state's Rights of Way Initiative. About $20 million of that total was used to acquire and convert the hotel, according to information from the City of Lacey.
Carolyn Cox, chair of the Regional Housing Council and a Lacey City Council member, said the enhanced shelter has the potential to change lives and the community for the better.
"The enhanced shelter is in Lacey, but it is truly a regional effort to humanely address the biggest challenge of our times," Cox said in the news release. "I'm grateful for the goodwill and cooperation it took to get here."
The county release says people experiencing homelessness are being offered housing at Maple Court through the county's coordinated entry system.
These efforts are being led by outreach workers from Olympia Mutual Aid Partners that have partnered with the City of Olympia, said Keylee Marineau, Thurston County Homeless Response Program Manager.
"For the last year, outreach workers have been doing tremendous work building rapport with residents of the camps and sharing what housing options are available to them," Marineau said in the release. "This work is vital. It must be done with compassion and care; and it takes time."
In a Facebook post, Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders said he drove to the encampment on Wednesday after he spotted a plume of smoke in the area.
Though it wasn't in his jurisdiction, he said he contacted troopers at the scene and helped by telling people to evacuate the area. However, he said some people "flat out declined" to leave.
Sanders said he's seen the camp grow "significantly" in recent weeks and he has frequently fielded complaints about the camp. He guessed more people may be staying at the camp in the hopes of being selected for housing.
The opening of the Maple Court shelter should help alleviate some safety concerns, but he said he expects a significant increase in the amount of foot and vehicle traffic as well as police calls around the new shelter.
"We will be monitoring this area closely as there are large amounts of unincorporated Thurston County nearby that TCSO is responsible for," Sanders said.
While calling attention to the struggles that people experiencing homelessness face, Sanders said he still suspects a criminal element exists at such encampments.
"The homeless issue in this county will not be solved utilizing only compassion or only enforcement," Sanders said. "It's going to take a careful balanced blend of both."
