Incident Date: 4/15/2011
Issuing Officer: Faith Mueller & Joe Meinecke
Incident Location: 5801 N. Kitakyushu Street Point Defiance Park
Incident Type: Two-Alarm Commercial Structure Fire
Narrative: At 4:25 a.m. 12 companies of Tacoma Fire Department firefighters responded to a reported fire in the Pagoda Building at Point Defiance Park.
First arriving companies found heavy smoke showing from the iconic two story assembly occupancy. Once it was determined the fire had spread throughout both floors of the structure, the fire was upgrade to a Second-Alarm at 4:45 a.m..
The incident was divided into two operational zones with crews fighting the fire with hand lines and 2 1/2 inch diameter hoses on both floors from opposite sides of the building. Crews also worked very hard to extinguish the fire that was in the roof area while preserving as much of the historical structure as possible. (The unique design of the roof system with heavy timber, high cathedral ceiling and heavy tile roof - all represented dangerous collapse conditions for the firefighters). There were no injuries to report.
UPDATE: The cause of the fire is currently undetermined, however is suspicious in nature.
UPDATE TWO: Preliminary damage estimates are $250,000 dollars damage to the building and $20,000 dollars damage to it's contents.
