Thanks to a timely 911 call, and a quick response from local police and fire, the “Home of the Grizzlies” was saved last week from a few small fires near its bleachers.

Hoquiam Mayor Ben Winkelman wants to thank everyone who helped save the 83-year-old Olympic Stadium from the small fires that were discovered on the morning of Oct. 20.

“We got a kind of scary call over the radio about Olympic Stadium, and thankfully a citizen in our community called in what they initially thought was a grass fire,” Winkelman said. “We appeared at the scene fairly early and prevented a catastrophic loss of Olympic Stadium. So, just a special thank you to the caller (who) did the right thing, noticed some flames, and called it in.”

Winkelman described the damage as being mostly “cosmetic.”

“It’s nothing like major structural issues, but there will be some necessary repairs and replacement of different pieces of the stadium,” Winkelman said.

The incident is being treated as an arson, according to Hoquiam Police Chief Joe Strong. There were “at least three” fires set in the walkways of the south and west bleachers. So far, HPD does not have a suspect.

”The city of Hoquiam was extremely lucky to have an alert rideshare driver in the area, who immediately called 911 to report the fire,” Strong said. “We are very fortunate to have an employee at the stadium who had immediate access (to it.) That employee was able to unlock all entrances and provide access (to Hoquiam firefighters,) which enabled them to quickly extinguish the fires.”

While Strong is not a fire official, he gave his two cents on how close the stadium was to being lost.

“From just a common sense perspective, I’d say it was minutes away from being catastrophic,” Strong said.

Brian Shay, city administrator for Hoquiam, said the initial estimate on the material needed to make the repairs costs $20,000, but it could be more.

“Prevailing wages to make the repairs will likely double the costs of the damage,” Shay said Tuesday evening. “Our insurance deductible is $25,000, so it looks like that is what we will pay out of pocket for the repairs.”

While Stewart Field is the oldest stadium that still stands in Grays Harbor County, Olympic Stadium is the second oldest stadium within Grays Harbor County. The athletic field there was dedicated at the Hoquiam vs. Aberdeen Football Classic on Nov. 24, 1938, according to the game’s official program from 1938. The stadium officially opened in March in 1939, according to Hoquiam’s city website.

Olympic hosts Hoquiam High School football, baseball and soccer. Olympic also hosts the annual Hoquiam Loggers Playday, which celebrated its 58th year on Sept 10. The grounds at Olympic Stadium also host youth sports.

The question of how to protect the historic structure remains. The stadium is described as, “a heavy-timber utilitarian structure built to house over 10,000 baseball and football fans,” according to Hoquiam’s city website. The stadium, with alterations through its existence, can now hold up to 7,500 people.

Winkelman said “quite a few” residents have “reminded” him the city needs to figure out a better way to protect some of the city’s assets, including Olympic Stadium. Winkelman would like to have cameras and monitoring in order to keep the structure safe.

“We have so many events there,” Winkelman said. “It’s not that that necessarily would have prevented what happened in this case, but as more and more people use the area, it’ll be more and more important that we know what’s going on there.”

One idea Winkelman bandied about was how the city, at some point, will have to consider how to afford, or maybe pursue some security grants so camera systems can be installed at Olympic Stadium.

Shay said he is thankful for a capital budget appropriation in 2019 that provided the funding to replace the stadium’s fire suppression system, which did activate the sprinklers during the fire. Shay said he’s thankful to the support from Rep. Mike Chapman for sponsoring the appropriation, and further support from Rep. Steve Tharinger and Sen. Kevin Van De Wege.

“The previous system was old and failed regularly,” Shay said. “Other similar stadiums to ours have burned to the ground from arson, so we are very fortunate to have saved our historic stadium.”

Mary Thornton, Polson Museum secretary, sounded happy the historic stadium is still standing, and with minimal damage.

“I was up that night,” said Thornton, who lives near Olympic Stadium. “It wasn’t until somebody told me here at work the stadium caught on fire. I saw the trucks. That whole block that looks right on the stadium, they did great work in saving it, especially with the work the city is spending on the new shingles. It’s looking really good now.”