Fire Officials Say New Partnership Already Succeeding

A Tuesday afternoon house fire in Union Gap tested the new partnership between the Union Gap and Yakima fire departments.

The city of Yakima agreed to a contract earlier this year to provide fire services for the city of Union Gap.

Tuesday's small house fire tested that new system and firefighters say everything went according to plan.

"This was just proof that I think this is a good merger, or a good contract of services," Cmdr. Mitch Cole of the Yakima Fire Department said. "And Union Gap and Yakima, we've both been looking forward to working together like this."

The home was vacant at the time. And the owners were in the process of remodeling. Firefighters believe the fire could have been caused by electrical wiring. The damage was minimal and mostly isolated to an outside wall of the home.