Family loses ‘everything’ in Yelm house fire

A single-story 1,500-square-foot residential home off state Route 507 in Yelm, near George Road, erupted into flames Saturday, July 19, around 7 p.m.

According to the Thurston Co. Scanner, News, & Weather Blog, the Southeast Thurston Fire Authority (SETFA) responded to the call and traveled with mutual aid. The blog wrote that Engine 21 arrived on the scene to “flames showing from a residential structure.” A second alarm was requested.

Later that evening, Yelm Aerial Solutions posted a video of firefighters attempting to stop the flames with fire hoses. The video was taken about 8 p.m. In the accompanying written description, Yelm Aerial Solutions called the response “an extraordinary effort by multiple agencies, including S.E. Thurston Fire Authority, Bald Hills Fire Department, and Lacey Fire District Three to tackle a house fire off SR 507 near George Rd.”

South Thurston Fire (Tenino) and East Olympia Fire District 6 also contributed aid, according to the incident report from SETFA.

One neighbor wrote on Facebook that the house “literally blew up” and shook her house. Nichole Morris, daughter of the owners of the house, responded that it was the propane tank the neighbor felt. Other residents from further away in Yelm reported seeing heavy smoke.
According to the Thurston Co. Scanner, News, & Weather Blog, the fire was eventually put out, though Morris wrote that a friend told her it was “still going” as of 5 a.m., Monday, July 21. Morris later commented that the fire department said it would “burn/smoke for the next week.”

The SETFA incident report notes that the total time on the scene was 17 hours, 32 minutes, 28 seconds. The last unit’s cleared time was 12:45 p.m. on July 20. The cause of ignition was reported as unintentional, with no human factors contributing to the ignition.

According to Morris, no human deaths occurred during the fire, but, as of early Sunday morning, three cats and a dog hadn’t made it out. Three other dogs survived.

Posting to a Yelm community page, Morris wrote that the fire “destroyed everything,” and left her parents only “with what they walked out with.”

In the post, Morris asked for help for her younger sister, “who also lost everything.”

Specifically, Morris requested work clothes, shirts for yard work, hiking/work boots, gloves for working outside, a lunch box and other items.