Two fires in the Dome District could be arson. Historic building one of those damaged

A fire that burned early Wednesday at Tacoma’s historic Freighthouse Square was one of two overnight commercial-building fires that police and fire officials are investigating as possible arson.

The fire at Freighthouse Square was the smaller of the two, Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson Joe Meinecke said. He said an eastern portion of the building at 602 E.25th St. was left with an approximately 15-foot burn on an exterior wall facing 26th Street.

Firefighters were called to the building at about 4:30 a.m., and crews found fire rapidly spreading up the side of the building, Meinecke said. Firefighters quickly put out the flames and went to the building’s roof to ensure the blaze didn’t spread to any attic spaces.

“We’re not quite sure what the cause on that one is,” Meinecke told The News Tribune. “That one may have been intentionally started, so we’re working with the Tacoma Police Department arson detectives on that one as well.”

Freighthouse Square is a more than 110-year-old building that houses a variety of shops, restaurants and artist spaces. It’s next to a rail station for Amtrak and the Sounder. General manager for Freighthouse Marketplace, Doug Huntington, said businesses were open Wednesday.

Noelle Wilson, co-owner of the Painting Panda Pottery Studio, said she went to see the damage Wednesday morning, and the bulk of it was near the building’s event space, Foss Hall. She said it was still smoky when she was there. Another business owner, Kristin Olsen of the Celtic Attic gift shop, said she had an Irish-themed event planned in that space Saturday, and she was still assessing whether it needed to be moved upstairs.

Brian Borgelt, owner of Freighthouse Square since 2012, said in a phone call that this would be the eighth arson his building has suffered in the last four years. He said the city is overlooking crime in the area.

He speculated that all of the arsons were the result of homeless people who’d caused problems at Freighthouse Square and were angry about being told to leave.

Borgelt said some recent fires at his building have caused worse damage than Wednesday’s blaze, but none has been severe enough for insurance claims, and he said he’s footed the bill each time. The owner said he’d like to see the city compensate him for arson damages or hold criminals more strictly accountable.

Hours before the Freighthouse fire, about 43 fire department personnel worked a 2-alarm commercial fire that started blocks away at 323 E. 26th St. Meinecke said the structure has long been vacant, and crews are familiar with it from previous fires.

The fire department responded at about 12:15 a.m. and found heavy smoke pouring out of the building. Meinecke said crews attacked the fire using ladder trucks to blast water on the blaze from above.

Investigators are working to determine what caused the fire and where it started, Meinecke said. He said they are also looking into whether the two fires are connected.

“This could have been a purposeful fire, it could have been a warming fire,” Meinecke said. “All those things are just still undetermined at this point.”