Eight displaced after fire destroys U-District construction
Jun 17, 2015, 8:55 AM | Updated: 9:01 am
Firefighters inspect the charred remains of a construction site that caught fire Tuesday morning, and displaced eight neighboring residents. (Seattle Fire Department)
(Seattle Fire Department)
Eight University District residents are unable to return home after a fire forced them out of bed and onto the street Tuesday morning.
“We had a town home complex under construction, caught fire, and it spread to a boarding house located just to the south of property,” said Kyle Moore with the Seattle Fired Department. “That boarding house had eight people inside; all of them evacuated.”
“The fire spread to the attic of that structure and moved its way down the walls,” he said.
The fire erupted in the 5200 block of 12th Avenue northeast. The first report of the blaze was at 3:40 a.m. Firefighters were able to knock it down by 4:45 a.m. and remained at the site all morning extinguishing any hot spots. But the fire still posed a challenge to crews.
“Also, the flames spread to a power pole located next to the fire,” Moore said. “That power pole was carrying 26,000 volts on primary lines…we had lines down from that pole and that was one challenge that firefighters had to face.”
Seattle City Light came to the scene to reroute the lines, which turned out to be low-voltage communication lines.
Embers of the fire also caused minor damage to another nearby building, but firefighters prevented the structure from being further harmed. Those residents remain in their home.
The eight evacuated residents, however, cannot return to their building. The Red Cross is providing temporary housing for them until they can re-enter the boarding house.
The cause of the fire is unknown and remains under investigation by fire crews. Moore said that the cause won’t likely be determined soon as the charred construction site is unsafe to enter.
