West Seattle Blog…

Update: Vacant home burns in Arbor Heights; no injuries

January 14, 2012 at 11:54 pm | In Arbor Heights, West Seattle fires, West Seattle news | 28 Comments

(Photo added 12:42 am, sent by neighbor ‘Bunnyfer’)
11:54 PM: Fire reported on 35th SW near Roxbury. More to come.

(Photo by Tony Bradley)
12:10 AM: The fire is reported to be under control.

12:36 AM: Christopher Boffoli‘s on the scene for WSB. (His photos are above and below this paragraph.) He says the house is single-family but is believed to be vacant (as mentioned in comments, below). Note that 35th is closed at Roxbury, if you have to drive at this hour. No word of any injuries.

12:41 AM: Christopher has spoken with Seattle Fire spokesperson Kyle Moore. He reports that Moore confirms the house was vacant, and Christopher adds this from Kyle’s briefing: “No occupants. No firefighter injuries. Engine 37 arrived to a fully involved fire in the basement area. Ladder 11 followed and ran water from an 8 inch main on 35th. They have the fire pretty much tapped now. But because the fire burned out and weakened the floor, it is too dangerous for them to go inside at this point. Kyle says they’ll probably sit on it all night just to be sure.”

1:41 AM: Added video from Christopher. Your editor here just went over to check the scene – 35th closed on the south side of Roxbury but you can turn onto Roxbury, either way. We’re adding more photos, too. The main that Kyle mentioned to Christopher – important note because of the water challenges brought to light by the August 27th fire a mile or so south – is about a block from the house that burned.

(Photo by Tony Bradley)
Here’s where the line ran from:

(Photo by Torin Record-Sand)
(The maps shown when the City Council was briefed on the August fire last month show this area is not slated for water-main upgrades since it’s close enough to one with sufficient “fire flow.” When we checked back, firefighters were still up on the roof with chainsaws, ventilating the house, and it’s still smoldering. No word on the cause, but that usually takes some hours to determine.

2:49 AM: Commenters had pointed out early on that the home was for sale. Most recently, one noted that a sale was listed as “pending.” We looked up the current ownership; the house is federally owned, following foreclosure. Meantime, we uploaded a short clip received from Benjamin, in the early moments of the fire:

ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: Investigators still haven’t figured out how the fire started, according to this update on the SFD website.

28 Comments

1. Yeah, I think every emergency vehicle in West Seattle has flown by my house…

   Comment by que — 11:55 pm January 14, 2012 #

2. Fire. Separate story.

   Comment by WSB — 11:56 pm January 14, 2012 #

3. I live off of 21st ave and we can see flames and smoke from our house!!! Hope everyone is safe!!

   Comment by Danielle P — 11:56 pm January 14, 2012 #

4. I live off of 21st ave and we can see flames and smoke from our house! Hope everyone is safe!

   Comment by Danielle P — 11:57 pm January 14, 2012 #

5. They just pulled out of the house. It is vacant and listed for sale it is really involved
   Jim

   Comment by clark5080 — 11:59 pm January 14, 2012 #

6. Can smell the fire…and a numerous sirens going by.

   Comment by Gawdger — 12:02 am January 15, 2012 #

7. Can see it from my bedroom window and can hear the crackling. Very scary.

   Comment by born, raised & still in ws — 12:05 am January 15, 2012 #

8. I live across the street. seems to be under control. 3 fire trucks here. seems to be similar issues to last arbor heights fire. they are running hose down the street. the house hasn’t been occupied for months. hoping you will be able to find out more and post. we were really worried about our neighbors surrounding the house. thank you seattle fire dept!

   Comment by ta — 12:13 am January 15, 2012 #

9. Happy to see the post that the home is vacant. I heard the chainsaw going and could see the flames. Smoke has diminished and no more orange glow in the sky.

   Comment by born, raised & still in ws — 12:16 am January 15, 2012 #

10. Where is it exactly?

    Comment by neighbor — 12:23 am January 15, 2012 #

11. House went up in flames quick like the summer fire in arbor heights 2011. Seattle fire department got it under control pretty fast once all was set up job well done!

    Comment by Grease — 12:32 am January 15, 2012 #

12. Just west of 35th on 97th

    Comment by clark5080 — 12:47 am January 15, 2012 #

13. Thanks Clark – the address was bizarre on the 911 log, originally it said 35th and 97th and then it (at least via iPhone ) looked likes 35th at 95! Now it says 97th/35th. Don’t know exact address …

    Comment by WSB — 12:51 am January 15, 2012 #

14. Address of fire is 3540 SW 97th. We also would like to send a big thank you to the response team. They did a phenomenal job!

    Comment by Neighbor — 12:59 am January 15, 2012 #

15. From the photos, I think it’s this house.

    Comment by mookie — 1:23 am January 15, 2012 #

16. Thanks. We just went over to look, and to get an update – address not visible on the front of the now-gutted house but I can tell you it’s immediately adjacent to the southwest edge of the Freedom Church/Jesus Center/ex-Safeway lot. We stood there for a while and shot the firefighters doing chainsaw work on the roof. Also checked out the hose run to the corner, since water supply in Arbor Heights became such a big issue following the August 27th fire. Will be adding those elements to the story shortly. – TR

    Comment by WSB — 1:25 am January 15, 2012 #

17. Yup Mookie that is the house

    Comment by clark5080 — 1:49 am January 15, 2012 #

18. (I can’t be the only Mac user who dreads trying to get embedded Vimeo to play smoothly!?)

    Comment by mookie — 1:58 am January 15, 2012 #

19. I had this house in my favorites on Redfin for a couple of months because we have a small house budget and it was a very large house for the money. It did, however, look like the interior layout was a bit crazy from the pictures I saw. Ultimately I took it off my list for that reason and the amount of work it looked like it needed.

    Comment by Anna — 2:14 am January 15, 2012 #

20. Actually and now that I looked again it says on Redfin that a Sale is pending.

    http://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/3540-SW-97th-St-98126/home/155312

    Comment by Anna — 2:16 am January 15, 2012 #

21. And … federally owned after foreclosure.
    .
    http://info.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/eRealProperty/Detail.aspx?ParcelNbr=2858600083

    Comment by WSB — 2:49 am January 15, 2012 #

22. Before it was vacant, there was quite alot of people living there, with 2 semi’s parked there or at the church. Glad they weren’t still living there, could’ve been tragic with the multiple families dwelling there.

    Comment by Trick — 1:18 pm January 15, 2012 #

23. It’s single family but reputed to have an illegal mother in law apartment in it. I live across the street.

    For years, it’s been rented to drug dealers and those running some sort of halfway point for immigrants.

    Been vacant a couple years. Been for sale and I think they weren’t getting a lot of interest.

    Comment by Claire Swazey — 2:09 pm January 15, 2012 #

24. The Federal Home Loan ownership would have been pursuant to a mortgage/deed of trust loan wherein FHLMC (Freddie Mac) was the investor. After foreclosure sale, if no one outbids the bank, the foreclosure deed is made out to the investor.

    Comment by Claire Swazey — 2:11 pm January 15, 2012 #

25. More vacant houses burned down. Hope this isn’t getting like Detroit.

    Comment by Donn — 2:46 pm January 15, 2012 #

26. Kind of Ironic just drove by the house to take a look in the daylight and the first thing I noticed was on the listing sign Said the house had a 2 year warranty Kind of useless now

    Comment by clark5080 — 3:04 pm January 15, 2012 #

27. I live on 35th at 97th, and I’ve had my eye on that house, in fact I looked at it yesterday. Any word on what the cause was?

    Comment by Westside J. — 8:08 pm January 15, 2012 #

28. Not yet. This is on the SFD site tonight:
    http://fireline.seattle.gov/2012/01/15/west-seattle-vacant-house-fire-cause-is-still-under-investigation/

    Comment by WSB — 8:19 pm January 15, 2012 #

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