More than 20 units battle Spanaway sawmill fire; building a total loss
Jul 17, 2025, 8:50 AM
A Central Pierce Fire and Rescue vehicle before its called to respond to a fire. (Photo courtesy of Central Pierce Fire)
(Photo courtesy of Central Pierce Fire)
More than 20 units from West, Central, and South Pierce Fire responded to put out a massive fire in Spanaway Wednesday.
The fire broke out in an unused sawmill, east of the intersection of SR 7 and SR 507, also known as the Roy “Y,” on Mountain Highway E. in Spanaway.
Batallion Chief Jared Bonilla of Central Pierce Fire claimed high heat and low humidity throughout the state were factors in the fire.
鈥淎bsolutely, absolutely,鈥� Bonea told . 鈥淲e鈥檝e been in a drought for some months now. That continues to trend. Our temperature index is much higher than it has been historically. And the relative humidity continues to drop. These can create very dramatic, explosive fire conditions. Both in the wildland settings and the residential, commercial settings.鈥�
The unused sawmill is considered a complete loss after the flames were finally extinguished.
“The amount of fire, the amount of smoke was so tremendous, it wouldn鈥檛 have mattered what kind of resources we had,” Bonea said. “It would not have been able to be extinguished.”
Two workers were at the scene when the fire started, but they were able to avoid injury.
The cause of this fire still has not been determined, as of this reporting.
Contributing:
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