A Red Cross spokeswoman said one adult and three children were displaced Thursday night by a house fire in Parkland.

One adult and three children were affected by the fire, on the 14000 block of Yakima Avenue South, Red Cross spokeswoman Karen Kim said.

UPDATE: 9:39 p.m. There was no fire, but the residents of the house came home to see it full of smoke and called crews out at about 8:20 p.m.

The cause was not available Thursday night.

Here are updates on the two fires in the City of Tacoma on Thursday night.

Crews are still investigating what sparked an apartment fire at 3931 Mason Loop Road. However, they have determined the blaze caused about $230,000 damage, the fire department reports.

Crews have confirmed that an overheated BBQ grill sparked a devastating blaze at a home at 1904 N. Proctor St, the fire department reports. The blaze caused about $485,000 to the house and detached garage.

In regards to Monday's fire at the Hillside Quickie market, crews are continuing to dig to find out what sparked that blaze. More information might be available next week.

From the Lakewood Fire Department:

At approximately 1:20 p.m., Lakewood Fire District 2 responded to a brush fire at 114th Street and Bridgeport Way. Firefighters arrived to find the grass on fire along Bridgeport Way, across the street from Happy Days Casino and Restaurant.

As firefighters were putting the first fire out, witnesses saw a man starting another fire just a few yards away. A Lakewood firefighter then chased the man down and detained him until police arrived. Lakewood Police arrested the man for suspected arson.

Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers is offer a reward after a Lakewood police officer's personal car was spray painted and torched late Wednesday.

The car was parked at the officer's Spanaway home. It was painted with gang graffiti, then set on fire about 10:45 p.m., Lakewood police report. The driveway also was spray painted, according to police.

The officer's personal car is a loss.

The blaze caused heat damage to the officer's patrol car, which was parked next to his personal car. A rain gutter on the house also suffered heat damage.

The officer was inside the house at the time, police reported. No one was injured.

Investigators are looking into what might have motivated the attack. The officer recently had spray painted over gang graffiti in his neighborhood, Lakewood Assistant Police Chief Mike Zaro said. Or the officer's house could have been randomly targeted by someone who spotted a police car.

"With the graffiti left behind, we are definite confident it was gang related," Zaro said.

Before the attack, the officer twice had spotted a suspicious vehicle outside his home and went outside to investigate. Each time, the officer shined a flash light and the car took off. The car came back in 20 minutes intervals, Zaro said.

Twenty minutes after the officer spotted the car a second time, his personal car was on fire.

"They knew somebody was home and they knew it was a police officer's house," Zaro said. "It was pretty brazen."

The suspicious vehicle is described as a late 1980s maroon Buick or Cadillac.

Pierce County sheriff's detectives are investigating the arson. The regional gang officers also are assisting in the case, Zaro said.

Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to arrests and charges filed in the case. Tipsters may remain anonymous. Reach Crime Stoppers at 253-591-5959.

One dog died and another was receiving treatment after flames broke out inside an Auburn home, the Valley Regional Fire Authority reported.

Firefighters went to the house in the 600 block of 24th Street Southeast just before 1:45 p.m. today. A neighbor reported seeing smoke and flames coming out of the back of the house.

Firefighters found flames on the deck. They had spread to the house and attic area.

Firefighters searched the house and found two dogs inside. One dog died at the scene; the other was being treated by firefighters. No other injuries have been reported.

Crews were investigating the cause of the fire.

This comes from the state Fire Marshal's Office:

Fire season has arrived and homeowners in the wildland/urban interface (WUI) should be thinking about performing a Wildfire Hazard Assessment. "Hazard assessments are an important tool in fire prevention and aid in protecting homes and property," says State Fire Marshal Mike Matlick. Several aspects of the home and property are evaluated and points assigned to each hazard – the higher the hazard, the higher the number of points. The points are then tallied and the level of risk is determined by the score; hazard categories are low, moderate, high and extreme.

Interface homeowners have several factors to consider when mitigating the wildfire hazards to their home. The changes below are optimum to create a low-hazard Firewise home:

Building Construction:

Roofing Material – Made of fire-resistant material such as metal, tile or composition.

Roof Cleanliness – No accumulation of combustible debris.

Building Exterior – Non-combustible siding such as stucco, brick, or metal.

Eaves, Vents & Openings – Screened with corrosion-resistant, 3-millimetre wire mesh.

Balcony, Deck or Porch – None or fire-resistant material with 12-millimetre sheathing.

Window & Door Glazing – Tempered or multiple-pane windows.

Landscape:

Vegetation Types – Fire-resistant vegetation that is green and well watered or drought-resistant.
Defensible Space – At least 30 feet but preferably 100 feet surrounding home.

Means of Access:

Ingress & Egress – Two or more roads in and out of your property.

Road Width & Accessibility – Driveway is at least 20 feet wide with 15 feet of overhead clearance for emergency vehicles.

Street Signs – Visible and made of non-combustible material; address numbers are clearly marked with 4” reflective letters.

Fire crews from around the state have been mobilized to help firefighters battle the wildfire threatening homes near Chelan.

State Patrol Chief John Batiste authorized the mobilization just after midnight.

Here's more from the authorization:

Mobilization specialists from the Fire Protection Bureau have ordered 5 Interface Task Forces (2 structure engines, 2 wildland engines, 1 water tender and a Strike Team Leader), 3 Wildland Strike Teams (5 wildland engines, 1 water tender and a Strike Team Leader). An additional 3 Wildland Strike Teams will be ordered later on 7-29-09. This is a joint fire with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. They will be ordering aircraft and handcrews for this incident.

According to local officials, the fire has grown to approximately 500 acres on joint Fire District # 7 and Washington State Department of Natural Resources protected lands. The fire is burning light brush, grass and timber just north of Chelan. Homes threatened by the fire are 120 to 140 and 79 individuals have been evacuated. A Red Cross Shelter has been opened at the Chelan High School with no residents seeking shelter at this time.

The State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at Camp Murray has been activated to Phase II, to coordinate state assistance for the Union Valley Fire. Personnel from the Office of the State Fire Marshal will be enroute to the scene of the fire to coordinate dispatch of resources, while other personnel are staffing the State EOC at Camp Murray.

Under the mobilization plan, the Fire Protection Bureau will be coordinating the initial dispatch of firefighters, engines, water tenders, and helicopters. The Washington State Fire Services Mobilization Plan is implemented to provide personnel, equipment and other resources from around the state when wildfires exceed the firefighting capacity of local jurisdictions.

On my way into the office this morning, I swung by the scene of yesterday's devastating fire at the Hillside Quickie market.

A fire engine and ladder truck were at the scene, mopping up and keeping an eye on things.

Only two of the building's four walls remain standing - sort of. The top half of a third wall is gone; the bottom half was leaning outward. The wall bows out and is touching - or nearly touching (I couldn't get close enough to tell) - the house next door. That house - 1604 - has been boarded up.

The roof and back wall of the grocery are completely gone. The cell phone photo I took of the back end of the structure didn't turn out because of the morning sun.

South 16th Street next to the market is still blocked off. One lane of South G Street in front of the store also remains taped off to traffic. The other streets are open.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

UPDATE: Tacoma fire reports that investigators have not yet be able to comb through the rubble of this fire to determine a cause.

The department is working with the property owners and insurance company to bring in heavy equipment to stabilize what remains of the structure.

A cause and origin of the fire will not be known for a couple of days.

Tacoma firefighters are still battling a sizable, two-alarm fire this afternoon on South G Street.

"It's pretty stubborn," Tacoma Deputy Fire Chief Jolene Davis said just before 3:30 p.m., more than two hours after the fire fight began.

Flames ripped through the 120-year-old, two-story building at the corner of South 16th and South G streets. Part of the building, which housed a grocery store on the first floor and several apartments on the second floor, has collapsed onto the sidewalk, Davis said. No injuries have been reported.

The fire was called in just after 1 p.m. Flames were showing from the front of the building when firefighters arrived, Davis said.

Firefighters initially went into the burning building and conducted searches on the first and second floor. No one was found.

The floor became unstable, however. The firefighters pulled out of the building and went to a defensive attack. The first floor collapsed a short time later.

About 60 firefighters were working on the blaze. The size of the response has been scaled back a little. Commanders have been working to shorten the fire-fighting shifts of the crews because of the heat, Davis said.

Investigators are at the scene, waiting to dig into what started the devastating blaze.

UPDATE: Tacoma police have blocked of part of Yakima Avenue for the fire. Other streets are being blocked off around the scene.

There's talk on the police scanner about evacuating nearby houses.

UPDATE 2: Yakima Avenue is blocked off from South 15th to South 17th. South 16th is blocked off from Yakima to Tacoma. Traffic is also restricted on South 15th and South 17th.

UPDATE 3: wowjohnt posted interesting background on the building.

Actually, the fire is at 1602 S. G Street. From the Tacoma Public Library:

Estil K. Christie Grocery Store & residence
-Christie is first listed at this address in the 1888 City Directory
-in the 1890 City Directory he is listed as having furnished rooms
-the grocery store is first listed in the 1891 City Directory
-added to Tacoma Register by Resolution No.32895, 1/31/1995
-bldg. commonly known as Hillside Grocery

The building was 120 years old.

I've heard talk on the scanner about a side wall collapsing. This is in addition to the first-floor collapsing an hour ago.

UPDATE 4: Hillside Grocery was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1995. Here's the listing from the register's web site:

Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event
Architectural Style: Stick/Eastlake
Area of Significance: Exploration/Settlement, Architecture
Period of Significance: 1875-1899, 1900-1924, 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic
Historic Sub-function: Multiple Dwelling, Single Dwelling, Specialty Store
Current Function: Commerce/Trade, Commerce/Trade
Current Sub-function: Professional, Specialty Store

Firefighters are on scene of an apartment fire near Highway 512 in the Parkland area.

The fire has gone to a second alarm.

The apartment is located at 106th Street South and Sales Road.

UPDATE: Firefighters were called to the Sienna Park Apartments about 2:30 p.m. When firefighters arrived at the three-story unit, they found two of the top floor apartments heavily involved with fire with flames poking through the roof of the two units, Central Pierce Fire spokesman Matt Holm said.

The flames have burned through the roof of those units. The roof is gone, Holm said.

No injuries have been reported so far but firefighters have not yet been able to conduct searches through the effected apartments.

Holm said there were no initial indications that anyone was inside the apartments.

UPDATE 2: The American Red Cross is responding to the scene to help the displaced residents.

Tacoma Fire photo.

Crews from the Tacoma Fire Department and Central Pierce Fire and Rescue fought a brush fire on Tacoma's East Side on Wednesday afternoon.

At about 2:50 p.m., crews responded to the area of East 44th and East T streets and found a rapidly growing brush and tree fire.

Additional crews were called to assist. About 6 to 8 acres of grass, brush and trees burned. No cause has been determined.

A slideshow of the fire is available at the Tacoma Fire Department's blog.

A despondent man reportedly set a fire in his South Hill house Monday evening after an argument over the phone with his wife.

The man set fire to articles inside the home in the 12100 block of 134th Street East about 8 p.m. while his wife was away and their children were down the street playing, said Matt Holm, assistant chief of Central Pierce Fire & Rescue.

The children came home to find the house locked up. They could hear the smoke alarms going off. The children could see flames coming from the back of the house.

They alerted neighbors, who called 911.

Firefighters initially thought the man was inside the home and waited for Pierce County sheriff's deputies to check out the report. They learned the man had left and firefighters doused the blaze.

No injuries were reported. The fire caused $10,000 damage.