Three bodies have been recovered from the site of a Saturday morning house fire that killed five people near Capitol Forest, the Thurston County Coroner said Sunday.
Two bodies still need to be recovered from the home in the 8800 block of Sherman Valley Road Southwest, at the entrance to the state forest. Officially identifying those who died could take time, Coroner Gary Warnock said.
"As for the identification process, that may take a few days to gather the information that is required to complete that process," he said.
Two adults and three children were killed in the blaze. A teenage girl who managed to get out of the house was treated for smoke inhalation at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Thurston County Sheriff's Lt. Cameron Simper said Sunday.
A Go Fund Me account refers to the property as Sherman Valley Ranch, and its Facebook page describes it as a 25-acre horse boarding ranch and wedding venue. The blaze gutted the home on the property but did not damage the horse barn, and no livestock was killed, Simper said. However, some house pets died in the fire, he said.
The fire is still being investigated, Simper said, including by officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. There was a heavy presence of investigators on site Sunday morning.
Numerous fire departments, including from Grays Harbor County, responded to the fire.
A Go Fund Me account has been created to support the ranch. The fundraising effort had raised more than $7,000 as of mid-day Sunday.
