Customers evacuate after heavy fire outside grocery store in Tacoma
Customers shopping at a Safeway grocery store in Tacoma evacuated after the back of the building caught fire Tuesday afternoon.
Firefighters were dispatched at 1:35 p.m. to the 700 block of South 56th Street. The fire was contained outside and did not move into the building, Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson Chelsea Shepherd told The News Tribune.
She said wooden pallets caught fire, and the flames went up the back exterior of the building.
Firefighters were on scene searching for hot spots, Shepherd said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. There were no reported injuries.
“Our preliminary investigation of the fire suggests that the fire started unintentionally, most likely from a nearby garbage bag. Due to fire damage, it is unclear what items were in the bag that might have ignited,” according to Tacoma Fire in an update on X.
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 2:36 PM.
