1 dead, residents evacuated after fire in Tacoma apartment building
One person died in an apartment fire in Tacoma on Friday morning.
Firefighters were dispatched at 7:51 a.m. to the 1200 block of North Pearl Street. Residents of the building were evacuated, Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson Chelsea Shepherd told The News Tribune.
One resident died in the fire, she said. No one else was injured. Firefighters believe no one else was in the unit where the person died.
Crews searched for the source of the fire when they arrived. Shepherd said the fire started in a bedroom on the third floor where the person who died was found. The flames burned through the floor and impacted the second floor ceiling. The fire was burning in between both units.
Residents of three units were displaced. Four residents were put in contact with the American Red Cross, she said.
Gracie Holdbrook has lived on the third floor unit for about four years. She was displaced with her partner and a friend who had been visiting from Wisconsin.
“I smelled something that was a sweet scent that smelled off, but I didn’t think too much of it,” she told The News Tribune.
Someone knocked on her door and told her there was smoke next door, Holdbrook said.
She said she got her two cats in their carriers, and they all left the unit. She was told her unit had smoke damage, and she cannot live in her apartment for about two weeks. Firefighters informed her Red Cross was going to contact her.
Shepherd said there was a possibility a wall heater might have ignited something in the unit where the fire began.
Firefighters were putting out flames as of 8:20 a.m. The flames were out at about 9 a.m.
This story was originally published April 3, 2026 at 8:40 AM.
