Suspicious fire destroys Jehovah's Witness hall near Olympia — again

A fire destroyed a Jehovah's Witness temple early Friday — the sixth suspicious blaze at a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in the area this year.

No injuries have been reported.

"We have no reason to believe right now there was anybody inside," said Ryan Cox, deputy chief of the Lacey Fire Department.

Fire crews were called to the temple on Sixth Avenue Southeast around 3:45 a.m. Friday morning. Cox said the building was "a total loss."

Cox said because this is the latest in a string of fires at Jehovah's Witnesses temples, it's being investigated as suspicious.

"We had one in July at Olympia that we were as well part of," Cox said, "and we're treating it as they're connected."

Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Thurston County Sheriff's Department are on the scene but stopped short at calling the fire an arson.

This is the sixth fire at a Jehovah's Witnesses hall in the area in the past year.

Additionally, shots were fired at another temple in May.