SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Big surprise — I-5 brush fire likely started by homeless encampment

Jul 27, 2018, 7:00 PM

brush fire, fire encampment...

(Andrew Smith, Flickr)

(Andrew Smith, Flickr)

Last night, there was a huge brush fire on northbound I-5 in Northgate that jumped the freeway — 10 lanes of traffic — and started another fire on the other side. They suspect the fire began in a homeless encampment.

Locals said that the people in the homeless encampment are cooking all the time. Police found cooking materials in the camp.

There is a burn ban right now in King County. But drug-addicted vagrants can steal a propane tank, bring it back to their encampment, improvise a barbecue, and cost taxpayers a fortune by starting a brush fire.

RELATED: Wildfire season off to a bad start in Washington

Jay Inslee wants to tax our families hundreds of dollars a year because of carbon emissions. How many carbon emissions are spewed into the atmosphere by every brush fire started by a homeless encampment? But we don’t enforce anything at all, at least not on homeless encampments.

I have a question for our politicians, especially for Jay Inslee, who is trotting all around the country getting his name out there so he can run for president in two years. When are you going to start addressing the consequences of the homelessness crisis in your own state? I’ve never heard him talk about the homelessness issue, even though it is certainly a statewide problem.

Think about the number of areas where taxpaying citizens have laws enforced against them, yet drug-addicted vagrants do not.

There are places where people get jaywalking tickets downtown Seattle, yet you can protest the youth jail by lying down in the middle of the street, gridlock the region for hours, yet the police will do nothing about it.

If you park for more than 72 hours in front of your house, your vehicle can be towed. If you are a drug-cooking RV, you can be left alone for weeks or months.

One set of laws for the taxpaying citizens, one set of laws for the drug-addicted vagrants.

RELATED: Seattle is filled with crime, but bus passes are free

If you’re out drinking in Belltown on a Friday night and relieve yourself in an alley, you can be ticketed for public urination. But the drug RVs can drop waste right out of their vehicles right onto a parking strip. In all of the encampments, there is all kinds of public urination and defecation. There’s no enforcement.

If you’re caught with cocaine, you’ll go to prison. If you’re a drug-addicted vagrant, you can shoot up heroin between your toes on a downtown bus bench in front of a cop, and no one will do anything to you.

The word is out, all around the United States — the Puget Sound area is the most drug-friendly region in the country. And that’s why we have the level of problems that we have around here; we’ve attracted the worst of the worst from around the country. Yet you don’t hear the governor or any other public official say anything about that — they just keep going after the taxpaying citizens.

Cedar River asphalt plant...

Frank Lenzi

King County buys Cedar River property for $14M, ending decade-long asphalt plant fight

King County has purchased the Cedar River property at the center of a nearly decade-long fight over a proposed asphalt plant, paying $14 million — $2.7 million below its appraised value — for land that could become a crown jewel of the county's park system.

3 minutes ago

Kristina Liutova faces Zheng Qinwen at the US Open on Monday August 31, 2026....

Frank Lenzi

Rising star vs. comeback queen: Redmond’s Kristina Liutova, 16, takes on Olympic Gold Medalist Zheng Qinwen at the US Open

Redmond's Kristina Liutova, 16, continues her long journey to the top of women's tennis Monday when she plays her first main draw match at a Grand Slam tournament at the 2026 US Open.

4 minutes ago

alaska dan sullivan...

Jake Skorheim and Spike O'Neill Show

‘Almost everything is the exact same’: Jake reviews Alaska’s copycat Senate race with Dan Sullivan v. Dan Sullivan

Explore Alaska's rare Senate race featuring two Republican candidates, both named Dan Sullivan, in this intriguing political analysis.

6 minutes ago

cell phone ban ferguson...

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin Show

‘It’s a swing and a miss’: Gee doubts Ferguson’s case for statewide phone ban

Gov. Ferguson advocates for a statewide phone ban in schools, but skepticism remains about its effectiveness and implementation.

6 minutes ago

meta lawsuit settlement...

John Curley Show

‘Addiction machines’: Former Meta researcher tells Curley $17B settlement won’t go far enough

Former researcher analyzes Meta's $17B lawsuit settlement and its implications for child safety on Instagram and Facebook.

7 minutes ago

In this combination photo, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol ...

Associated Press

Moulton says Sen. Markey, 80, is too old for another term. Young Massachusetts Democrats are divided

BOSTON (AP) — In a race that has centered on whether Ed Markey, 80, is too old for another U.S. Senate term, the Massachusetts Democrat’s answer to a recent debate question was especially striking. When asked whether he uses AI platforms like Claude or ChatGPT in his work, Markey seemed unclear on the topic. He […]

2 hours ago

Dori: Big surprise — I-5 brush fire likely started by homeless encampment