South Park fire sends one person to the hospital

| South Park | West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

(Photo courtesy Erik Walum)
A business fire in South Park this afternoon sent one person to the hospital with burns (not believed to be life-threatening). We checked it out after notes from several people who either saw the smoke – visible from east West Seattle – or heard the sirens (responding crews included some from West Seattle stations). The business address, in the 7900 block of 2nd South (map) – between Highways 509 and 99 – is listed as a recycling firm. The fire was mostly out when we got there – a pile of charred debris was visible outside the building:

Investigators had just arrived; fire crews told us they were still sorting out the circumstances, including how it started, and how the victim was burned – they say he had been in a motorhome on the business’s property.

ADDED MONDAY: The fire was declared accidental – SFD Lt. Sue Stangl says it actually started in the engine compartment of that RV, spreading to the adjacent warehouse area, and that the victim was not seriously hurt – burned fingertips.

datamuse June 4, 2011 (5:11 pm)

I heard the sirens, but the trees behind my backyard meant I couldn’t see what was going on. Real-Time 911 showed something like 15 units responding, though. Wow.

k June 4, 2011 (5:30 pm)

The sirens were long and loud– I am glad that only one person was hurt. It sounded like it was much worse.

WSB June 4, 2011 (6:59 pm)

Any “fire in building” or “fire in single-family residence” call will have a set, large number of units responding. That’s standard. It’s much easier to roll everybody and pull back, than to get there with a couple units and say holy hell, this is an inferno and people are trapped and we need more … in a fire, minutes, seconds, can be the life-death difference. Also note, and I didn’t always know this one – the original number of rolled units will show as “green” (open) until the last unit clears, even if most of them cleared fairly quickly. So if 15 units were rolled, and a dozen canceled within a few minutes, you will still look at online 911 and see what looks like 15 units still at the scene – that’s just the way the system works. – TR

k June 5, 2011 (8:22 pm)

Thanks TR–I didn’t know that.
With the closure of the SP bridge I knew that the Holden station would be getting more calls for SP, but it seemed like the sirens went on for a long time.
And I couldn’t see anything for the trees either.