Army agrees to cease fire to save Capitol
March 13, 2001, 10:45 AM
 
FORT LEWIS – The Army has agreed to a cease-fire to protect the earthquake-damaged state Capitol.

 
The Capitol dome in Olympia was cracked in the magnitude-6.8 Nisqually Earthquake that shook the region Feb. 28. The quake was centered near the Nisqually River delta, 11 miles northeast of Olympia and just southwest of the Army's sprawling Fort Lewis.

Because of the dome damage, the state Department of General Administration has asked the fort not to fire artillery pieces larger than 60 mm, said Brendalynn Carpenter, an Army spokeswoman.

Work crews on the dome have reported feeling vibrations when the fort's guns have fired in the past, and state officials fear large chunks of stone – weighing 2,000 to 3,000 pounds each – could be shaken loose.

"Those stones are being held in place because they are wedged in there," said Andrew Stepleton, a General Administration senior property manager. "There's a lot less holding those stones in place than we thought."

Temporary restraints should be placed on the stones by the weekend, Stepleton said, after which it should be safe for the shooting to resume.

"They've been good neighbors," he said of the Army.

This is strictly temporary. We will be still fielding artillerey at the ranges on Ft Lewis.