News Police & Fire

Brush fire breaks out along stretch of Highway 16

A couple dozen units from several departments responded to a two-alarm fire along Highway 16 in Gig Harbor Sunday afternoon.

At 1:45 p.m., the blaze was dispatched as a residential fire on eastbound Highway 16 at Milepost 12. The right lane was closed as a string of fire engines parked along the side of the road from about the gray former performing arts building with the billboard east to the Hunt Street dead end, across the highway from the Kimball Drive park-and-ride lot. They also battled the blaze from a residential area west side of the greenbelt of trees, brush and grass.

Several structures were threatened by the fast-moving fire, including Peninsula Lutheran Church, but an eyewitness account was unable to determine if any were damaged. This story will be updated with information from Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One when it becomes available. Gig Harbor Police later posted that it evacuated surrounding units but no buildings were damaged.

Assisting the local firefighters were Key Peninsula Fire and West Pierce Fire Fighters, Tacoma Fire Department, and South Kitsap Fire & Rescue.

People gathered in the church parking lot amid heavy smoke that spread for miles, as did the backup on Highway 16. As of 4:30 p.m., it was still stop-and-go back to the Kitsap County line, according to the Department of Transportation. Key Peninsula Fire posted at 2:07 p.m. that the fire was under control and crews were performing mop-up. Eleven units remain on the scene putting out hot spots at 4:40 p.m.