Explosion in electrical room forces evacuation of 8 Tacoma apartment buildings

Eight buildings in Tacoma were evacuated Sunday after an explosion in an apartment complex.

Tacoma fire crews responded to the explosion at 6400 S. 12th St. around 5:30 p.m., the fire department stated on X.

6400 S 12th St, 5:37pm – Tacoma Fire is responding to an explosion at an apartment complex. There was smoke coming from an electrical conduit, alarms sounded, a resident pulled the alarm. We are actively evacuating buildings in the complex out of caution. pic.twitter.com/Q1eaPJjFAr

— Tacoma Fire (@TacomaFire) June 29, 2026

Officials said there was smoke coming from an electrical conduit, and a resident had pulled the alarm.

Firefighters evacuate 8 buildings after explosion

Firefighters evacuated the buildings, although there was no active fire. The Tacoma Fire Department (TFD) said an electrical transformer malfunction had pushed smoke into multiple buildings.

“Electrical malfunction with a transformer pushed smoke into multiple buildings, triggering an automatic alarm,” TFD stated. “A resident then pulled the fire alarm to alert neighbors. Twenty minutes after TFD arrived on scene, the explosion occurred. We immediately began evacuating occupants.”

Residents were sheltering at Hunt Middle School while Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) and fire investigators worked to figure out what caused the explosion.

Around 10:45 p.m., TFD had cleared all units to be reoccupied except for the units in the 600 building. The Red Cross helped the displaced residents, while TPU worked to restore power.

Around 9 a.m. Monday, officials said they determined the explosion occurred in the electrical room, where firefighters shut off power to the building.

No injuries were reported.

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