A fire in downtown Puyallup closed streets as firefighters responded Friday morning.
Fire crews responding to another call stumbled upon the fire inside the Forum Pub & Grill in the historic area.
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue said firefighters were called to a report of a carbon monoxide detector going off in the same block as the pub. Once at that scene, firefighters began smelling smoke nearby.
They circled the block and saw smoke coming from the pub at East Pioneer and South Meridian Street in the historic downtown area. It’s windows were also sooty. No flames were visible when they arrived.
More firefighters were summoned, with 21 firefighters responding to put out the flames inside the pub.
A hair salon, vintage clothing shop and a pawn shop are adjacent or nearby, but only the pub was damaged in its interior.
Five residents of nearby apartments were evacuated as a precaution.
At 6:30 a.m., Puyallup police said Meridian would be closed between Meeker and Pioneer for several hours. Several side streets are also closed.