By Emily Gillespie
The Columbian
VANCOUVER, Wash. — A two-alarm fire leveled a four-story apartment complex under construction in east Vancouver early today.
A member of 24-Hour Fitness, 800 S.E. Tech Center Drive, saw the flames coming from the four-story complex about 3:20 a.m. and called 911, said Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli.
About 40 firefighters from the Vancouver and Camas-Washougal fire departments responded, but were unable to save the building, which had been framed, but lacked any fire protection features.
“It was completely involved,” Scarpelli said. “Firefighters took a defensive attack on this fire to protect any exposure.”
There are no reported injuries.
Scarpelli said that the Columbia Tech Center Lofts, planned as a four-story 90-unit complex just south of Mill Plain Boulevard near Southeast 177th Avenue, was about 50 percent complete. The construction project has a price tag of more than $4 million, according to building permits, but Scarpelli said the estimated dollar loss falls somewhere between $2.5 million and $3.5 million.
A better damage estimate can be determined after contractors pinpoint the extent of work completed.
The fire is still smoldering and crews remain on scene, but Scarpelli said that the blaze has burned the complex “to the ground.” Natural gas helped fuel the flames until a utility crew shut off the line.
Scarpelli said the circumstances of the fire are unusual and so the agency’s arson investigation team are looking into the fire. She said investigators looking for the cause of the fire will likely bring in a dog trained to detect any accelerants.
“It’s highly unusual when you have a building this large, this fully involved,” she said.
The investigation will take some time, Scarpelli said, because of the efforts to put out hot spots.
“It’ll take at least 24 hours before we can even get into the scene,” she said. “It’s still burning and it’s still incredibly hot ... We’re forced to delay the physical scene investigation until Sunday or Monday, depending on temperatures on scene.”
The complex was set to be built in the Columbia Tech Center, a 412-acre development launched in the mid 1990s in response to Clark County’s rapid residential growth. The tech center now includes 2.7 million square feet of retail, office and residential space. The lofts were being built just north of the Columbia Tech Center Park and Amphitheater.
The owner of the project is Pacific Realty Associates, a Portland firm, and the contractor is Gaither & Sons Construction.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
___
(c)2014 The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.)
Distributed by MCT Information Services