By Rolf Boone
The Olympian

LACEY, Wash. – A quick-thinking lieutenant driving a Lacey Fire District 3 truck decided to tow a burning dumpster away from a commercial building early Tuesday morning, the department posted on social media.

At around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday morning, firefighters were called to a burning dumpster in the 700 block of Sleater Kinney Road Southeast, near the Fred Meyer shopping center in Lacey.

Although the fire engine E31 was supposed to be deployed, the driver of TK31 decided to also drive to the scene due to the severity of the fire, the post says.

“When they arrived, they found a huge dumpster five feet from a commercial building with flames reaching higher than the roof. The building and roof were literally seconds away from catching fire,” the post said.

“With no water available to extinguish the dumpster fire, the truck crew took the only action they could under the circumstances. They attached chains to the dumpster and pulled it away from the building. This occurred more than three minutes before E31 arrived to extinguish the fire.”

The truck crew’s quick action prevented a roof fire at a commercial business and avoided fire damage amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, the article says.

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