City sending navigation team to assess problematic area under Alaskan Way Viaduct

The City of Seattle will send its navigation team to meet with people living under the Alaskan Way Viaduct where a fire engulfed two acres of land over the weekend.

Communications Director for the city’s Finance and Administrative Services department Julie Moore told KIRO 7 the team will provide outreach and determine next steps for the people living in about 20 tents.

The navigation team focuses on unauthorized encampments based on health and safety. The team of police and outreach workers.

Sunday’s fire

A two-acre fire erupted below the viaduct Sunday afternoon, prompting the major roadway to shut down for several hours. A Seattle Fire Department spokesperson said they are investigating the incident as arson.

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Police said they arrested Kelly Robert Jensen after witnesses said they saw him start the fire.

The fire expanded from the hillside under the viaduct to the railway tracks near the waterfront. I also spread to under Pike Place Market.

“If the fire were to have spread it could have caused more damage and it could have been a more dangerous situation, but we were lucky that we were able to contain it to that one specific area,” said Kristen Tinsley with the Seattle Fire Department.

The fire department reports that there was no damage to the viaduct.

While fire crews targeted the area with water and foam, both directions of SR 99 on the viaduct were closed; the railway was also closed for one mile in each direction.

When flames and smoke first appeared at around 3:30 p.m., people visiting Pike Place Market and Victor Steinbrueck Park said the thick smoke blocked their view.

“We were eating, and all of a sudden we started smelling smoke. And then people started saying there was smoke, and we turned around and looked toward the water, and it was just covered. I mean, you couldn’t see through the smoke. Like the wheel? You couldn’t see the wheel at all. And then it got to where you couldn’t see the market, even,” Julie Smith said.

Kelly, who did not to provide her last name, said she lives near the viaduct and saw the fire from the lower side of the hill.

“There was quite a bit of smoke and things that obscured the buildings near the back on the other side of the viaduct, and some flames and things that were shooting out of the blackberry bushes,” she said.

She said in the past week, she has seen homeless people use their grills with open flames.

“I’ve walked up and down the hillside there a few times in the last few weeks. And one of our neighbors called 911 earlier this week. They have outdoor barbecues and they’ve got those lit with flames shooting up,” Kelly said.

A spokesperson with the fire department said there were about 20 tents near the fire and people in the encampment had to be evacuated.

Later Sunday evening, people were seen setting up tents in the charred area.

No damage was caused to the tents or other property in the area.

KIRO Radio contributed to this report.