Around 5:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon residents living on 195th Avenue in Rochester heard popping sounds and saw ash flying through their backyard. They drove down the street to see that one of the neighboring homes was engulfed in flames.
By 5:15 p.m., West Thurston Fire was alerted to the structure fire and upon their arrival, the primary residence, several auxiliary structures as well as a number of large vehicles including school buses were ablaze.
According to Leonard Johnson, Fire Chief of the McLane Black Fire Department, “a level 3 evacuation of the area was called as 25 to 30 neighboring structures were threatened by the fire”. In all, 32 units were called from as far away as Rainier, Yelm and Chehalis.
In addition, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) also sent 4 engines, 2 supervisors and 1 helicopter which continued to douse the fire with water. According to Myles Reed, Assistant Fire Unit Manager DNR is called “whenever there is a threat to wildland and urban areas to interface in a joint campaign to successfully respond to the fire”. By approximately 7:15 p.m. the fire was contained. There were no reported injuries, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Mary Beth Harrington, CVA, writes the Thurston County’s Hidden Sector, about local nonprofit organizations and their activities, every Tuesday in The JOLT.
Correction 8/1/22: An earlier version of this story included a misspelling of the word "evacuation."
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Deskandchairs
“a level 3 evaluation of the area ?
editor, editor
Sunday, July 31, 2022 Report this
DStusser
Evacuation. Corrected. Thank you.
Monday, August 1, 2022 Report this