Operations & Training

Video: Burning Shrub Ignites 2-Alarm WA Hotel Fire

May 22, 2020

Firefighters from Olympia and five other departments battled a blaze that broke out at a Quality Inn and displaced 80 people, including about 50 homeless individuals living there during the pandemic.

By Sara Gentzler

Source The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)

Crews from Olympia, WA, and five other departments battled a two-alarm blaze at a Quality Inn that was started by a burning shrub Thursday.

A stubborn fire that started overnight was still burning at the Quality Inn hotel in Olympia Thursday morning, Olympia Fire Department says. Due to monetary damages, the department estimates the building will be a total loss.

About midnight, OFD arrived at the hotel on the 1200 block of Quince Street Southeast to find a shrub burning, Asst. Chief of Operations Mike Buchanan told The Olympian. Firefighters quickly extinguished that blaze, but it had spread up the building’s siding and into its attic.

Crews began fighting the fire from inside and ran into building materials that made it difficult to access the fire, Buchanan said. About 45 minutes into the firefight, it wasn’t safe to operate inside, so crews and hotel guests evacuated and the department switched strategies, beginning to fight the fire from outside the building.

“Basically, the fire moved faster than we could,” Buchanan said.

As of 7 a.m. Thursday, crews were still on the scene, engaged in a “dance” of sorts, Buchanan says. The roof would shield water from accessing the fire in the attic, until it finally weakened the roof structure, granting water access to the fire.

The blaze displaced about 80 guests, Buchanan said. About 50 of the guests were homeless individuals who had been living at the mitigation site downtown and were now staying at the hotel due to the COVID-19 public health crisis in an arrangement organized by the city and Thurston County, city spokesperson Kellie Purce Braseth confirmed.

The 50 guests who had been staying there are at higher risk for severe complications from COVID-19 due to age or underlying health conditions, according to Purce Braseth.

Intercity Transit buses temporarily housed evacuees at the scene, according to OFD, until the American Red Cross and hotel worked to find the guests new accommodations at the Red Lion Inn & Suites, Governor Hotel. No injuries were reported.

In addition to OFD, Lacey, Tumwater, East Olympia, South Bay, and McLane Black Lake fire departments all responded to the fire.

As of Friday morning, the cause of the initial shrub fire was unknown.

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