Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Orting, WA

Orting is a city in central Pierce County, Washington, set in a fertile valley between the Puyallup and Carbon rivers, about 30 miles northwest of Mount Rainier.

The first recorded land claims in Orting were made in 1854 by William Henry Whitesell, Thomas Headley, Daniel Lane, and Daniel Varner, and streets in the modern city still carry the four men's names.

The settlement was first known as Gunson's Prairie and then as Carbon, before a Northern Pacific Railway superintendent renamed it Orting in 1877; the name is said to come from an Indigenous word meaning 'prairie.'

Orting was officially incorporated as a city on April 22, 1889.

Orting grew as a logging and farming town and a supply center for the coal-mining towns of Wilkeson and Carbonado, with Christmas tree and flower bulb farms later joining the local economy.

The 2020 census counted 9,041 residents in Orting, living in 2,916 households — the population more than quadrupled from 2,106 in 1990 as Orting became a bedroom community for Tacoma and Seattle commuters.

Orting is built entirely on several layers of Mount Rainier lahar deposits and has been designated the city most at risk from a Rainier lahar, which scientists estimate could reach the city in as little as 30 minutes.

Lahar warning sirens are installed throughout the Orting area, local schools regularly stage lahar evacuation drills, and residents are taught marked escape routes to high ground.

The Washington Soldiers Home, which provides nursing and medical care for veterans, sits just southwest of Orting; its cemetery contains 2,265 graves, including four Civil War Medal of Honor recipients.

Orting is the fourth and final stop of the annual Daffodil Festival Parade, which has passed through downtown since 1934 and draws more than 10,000 people each April.