Firefighters battle blaze on Tacoma's tideflats

Tacoma firefighters from 12 companies responded to a commercial structure fire on the tideflats at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday and discovered heavy smoke and flames showing from the one-story, 5,119-square-foot former “pallet recycling” storage warehouse and office building located at 4110 East 11th Street. “Crews mounted an aggressive interior attack on the fire, but had to retreat to a defensive position, as the buildings roof quickly deteriorated and began to collapse from the fire conditions,” said Tacoma Fire spokesperson Joe Meinecke. “Complicating the incident was the discovery of potentially hazardous materials identified on the premises that required special precautions to be taken while fighting the fire. Fire crews and environmental agencies also worked diligently to contain contaminated waste water from spreading into the Hylebos waterway.” The cause of the fire is currently under investigation and it resulted in an estimated $190,000 in damage to the building and its contents. There were no injuries to report.