Businesses destroyed after Yelm strip mall fire
YELM, Wash. - Multiple businesses were destroyed Wednesday morning after a fire in Yelm.
Firefighters from several agencies responded to a report of a commercial structure fire in the 900 block of Yelm Avenue East.
Freedom Training Center was one of the businesses destroyed in the raging fire. Owner Melanie Medlock said she has been at that location for three years, but the gym and her team have been part of the community for much longer. She said she rushed to the scene and watched all of her life's work go up in flames.
"All of the love and support I’ve had for so many years. Every single piece of equipment that people have poured into supporting. Just watching it in flames. It’s...it’s hard to watch that," said Medlock while holding back tears.
Kevin Denton, the Battalion Chief of the Southeast Thurston Fire Authority, investigators made an early estimate of $1.5 million in losses.
"I think it’s a significant loss. Right before the holidays and being a small community. They're family members—everybody knows each other around here. And they spent their whole life building these businesses up and they’re gone overnight," said Denton.
The Battalion Chief said it is too early to determine a cause. However, investigators could find their answer soon. Denton said surveillance cameras recorded video that will help solve the case. He said the video is a significant piece of evidence that is hard to come by in destructive fires like this.
"The fact that we’re able to have that and the direction it’s actually pointing should give us a point of origin. For us to be able to determine that is critical and most of the time we don’t get that. So hopefully that’s going to tell us a lot," said Denton.
East Olympia Fire District 6 shared a video that showed smoke coming out of a strip mall.
No injuries were reported, however so many people in the community said they were hurting from this loss. Medlock said as she watched her business burn down, her members were top of mind.
"How am I going to be able to help people? I didn’t really think about myself. I was thinking, ‘So and so comes at 3:09 in the morning! What are they going to do?’" said Medlock. "This is more than a gym. We’re here for people’s mental health. We’re here for our high school kids going through a pandemic. We’re here for everybody. Our fire department—that’s my members. They put out a fire at their own gym."
"It’s a hard time for a lot of people and we know our value with the people that come here. And so we’re hurting because we can’t provide that for our members," said Gina Cowles, a trainer at Freedom Training Center. "We know our community will wrap us up in love and support because they have since we moved to this location."
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