Update: Bonfire ‘explosion’ at Alki sends 5 to hospital with burns

(TOPLINE: 5 teenagers, reported at the scene to be celebrating the end of the school year at an Auburn high school, went to the hospital after someone added some kind of “accelerant” to a fire in an Alki Beach fire pit, resulting in what witnesses described as an “explosion.”)

(1st 2 photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
9:12 PM: We’re arriving at Alki where multiple emergency crews are tending to what we are told may be a case of someone with burn injuries … more momentarily. It’s happening at 59th and Alki SW – police are handling traffic control in the area – steer clear of there TFN. One witness describes what happened as a “fire pit explosion” and we are told more than one person has been transported to the hospital.

9:19 PM: Nearby resident Ben Hutchinson reports what he saw, and shares two photos:

About 20 minutes ago (20 minutes before the time of me sending this email), I was sitting in my room using my computer, when I heard a loud explosion. It sounded like maybe an illegal large/homemade firework exploding. I went outside to see what was going on. From the balcony of my apartment, I saw some burning material outside the fire ring just to the left of the fire ring. It appeared to be in the middle of the pile of belongings that the group of people had who were at the fire ring. Also to the right of the fire ring, I saw some burning material about 20 feet away. They people were throwing sand on, and stomping on the fire to put it out. I quickly pulled out my cellphone and to a picture on the phone’s camera, but they’d put out the fire by the time I pulled it out.

Other witnesses tell us at least two people were transported. We’ll be adding Ben’s photos shortly.

9:24 PM UPDATE: Christopher Boffoli was the first photojournalist there for WSB and tells us that fire crews told him five people have been taken to Harborview Medical Center with burns. He was also told that this was an end-of-year gathering involving students from Auburn; someone threw gasoline on a bonfire, and that’s what led to what multiple witnesses describe to us as an “explosion.”

10 PM UPDATE: Still awaiting info from formal briefing by Seattle Fire. Some online discussion cites witnesses as saying it was a “gas can,” not fluid itself – we’ll find out soon what SFD has determined.

10:21 PM UPDATE: Briefing by SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore is over. He says the five victims are all “high-school age” – two males taken by SFD medic unit have serious burns, two other male victims and one female with less-serious burns were transported to hospital(s) by private ambulances. Investigators are still trying to officially determine exactly what the “accelerant” and reported container were; the fire marshal is en route to the hospital to interview the victims who are OK enough to talk with him. We have the full briefing on video and will upload it to add here when our crew is back.

11:28 PM UPDATE: Seattle Fire has posted its account – only new information includes the degree of burns, 2nd and 3rd degree for the boys described as seriously burned. (Above this line, we’ve added the unedited video of the SFD briefing.)

TUESDAY MORNING: Police have also posted their online account; its only new detail is affirmation that their Arson/Bomb Squad is handling the followup investigation.

36 Replies to "Update: Bonfire 'explosion' at Alki sends 5 to hospital with burns"

  • hexghost June 11, 2012 (9:14 pm)

    According to the scanner, it was 2 20 year old males burned by an exploding fuel canister. I believe I heard that both had second-degree burns, they said 10% and 20% of the side of the body for the two.

    What was a first for me was hearing the trauma conversation over the scanner – it seemed like a medic on site was conferring with a trauma doctor in-route, as he gave authorization for saline, etc.

    • WSB June 11, 2012 (9:42 pm)

      hexG – many calls do have that information. I was away from the scanner heading back from an unrelated story when this all broke so I didn’t catch it but our crews who are there are awaiting the Fire Dept. PIO, who will have the official breakdown of what happened to who and how. SFD has since told us five people in all were taken to the hospital, but you may only have heard those who went in SFD medic units as opposed to the private ambulances mentioned by others – TR

  • scubafrog June 11, 2012 (9:15 pm)

    I saw the crews come (I live on Alki), paramedics and EMTs – then 2 Seattle Dept Paramedic vehicles + 2 EMT vehicles heading back westbound down Alki pretty quickly (towards the hospital I’m assuming).

    I hope everyone is treated, and recovers without incident – prayers and best wishes to all involved

  • WSC June 11, 2012 (9:17 pm)

    Sirens been blaring for 10 minutes straight with vehicles arriving via Alki, 59th and down Lander. What happened?

  • Bill at Duwamish Head June 11, 2012 (9:19 pm)

    5 ambulances rolled in, they are rolling back out now.

  • Native June 11, 2012 (9:19 pm)

    So scary- I’m still hearing the sirens. I hope the burns aren’t too bad.

  • Stu June 11, 2012 (9:22 pm)

    We have seen three ambulances leave with their sirens going

  • KC June 11, 2012 (9:22 pm)

    Total of 5 patients with first and second degree burns – Seattle Fire Medic Units & AMR (private ambulance company that serves Seattle) are transporting patients to Harborview now. All information came from live fire dispatch radio.

  • Alki Guy June 11, 2012 (9:42 pm)

    I passed those 5 ambulances on alki ave on my way home a block away. Welcome to end of school days mayhem! Hope kids are OK and lessons are learned

  • Morgan resident June 11, 2012 (9:47 pm)

    hexghost- Paramedics work under an MD’s license. That means the Doc has to give them permission for all treatment. The Trauma Doctor resides in the HMC ER and is paged to the radio to confer with the medics when needed.

  • Rob June 11, 2012 (9:56 pm)

    STU!!! I think some of those units leaving were actually heading to another call up on Admiral…

  • Diane June 11, 2012 (10:11 pm)

    learned about this on ch13 news at 10; and of course came here for the details

  • MB June 11, 2012 (10:16 pm)

    Just hope everybody involved is ok and recovers quickly, and nobody else does this!!

  • Russ June 11, 2012 (10:20 pm)

    Kids I spoke with said 4 people were burned — 3 males and 1 female. I have no idea if the kids really saw it or were just repeating what they heard.

  • islewrite June 11, 2012 (10:24 pm)

    In the charming vernacular of Twitter, reports of “skin hanging off” and people doing a “drop and role” (sic) and some running into the water. Major burns,compounded by the grit of sand….this is extra bad. Thank god Harborview is near.

    • WSB June 11, 2012 (10:30 pm)

      I have updated the story. Official word from SFD is all five victims of high school age. Four males, one female. Two males with serious burns, other three, less serious. I’m probably even more sensitive because I am parent of a teenager but these are all somebody’s son, somebody’s daughter. Have no idea whether the person who caused the “explosion” is among the victims and it doesn’t matter, I doubt he/she intended to have five people wind up burned, so remember, we do not allow victim-blaming, nor other insensitive comments. I thank those who have attempted to share information of what they saw/heard – it really helped, as did everyone with text, FB, Twitter messages – the online 911 log “multiple medic response 14” only means at least two people are believed to need serious tending-to and could have meant anything in those long moments till we plugged into information – TR

  • lt fd June 11, 2012 (10:28 pm)

    On the komonews.com scanner, you may hear paramedics or the MSO (Medical Services Officer- a paramedic lieutenant) talking with either the “Medic One Doctor” (medical issues) or the “Trauma Doctor” at Harborview. During heavy radio traffic, the SPD & SFD main channels will often mask any scanner coverage of the ‘doctor’ channel traffic.
    .
    Prior to transporting, a Medic Unit will confirm a patient treatment/transport plan with the appropriate ‘radio’ doctor (either medical or trauma) at Harborview. Usually, you will hear the voice of the lead medic, but on certain incidents (when the medics are heavily involved in patient care), you will hear the MSO summarizing the situation for the Trauma Doctor- mechanism of injury, number of patients, severity, vital signs, etc. Additionally, the patients are actually numbered, and the destination hospitals are confirmed by radio prior to transport via either Medic Unit or AMR.

  • Alkira June 11, 2012 (10:37 pm)

    WSB: Thanks so much for the information. So many emergency vehicles. Was a scary sight. Curious – what does “serious” burn mean? Is that a 2nd or 3rd degree burn?

  • Alkira June 11, 2012 (11:33 pm)

    Oh my goodness. Horrific. Awful, awful.

  • tj June 12, 2012 (12:16 am)

    It was 3 boys and 2 girls that got the worse of it. It might not be that big of a deal, but the news needs to get it right. Two girls were sent to the hospital.

    • WSB June 12, 2012 (12:22 am)

      TJ, we in the media are quoting the fire department, which said both in person and in print, four boys and one girl.
      .
      http://fireline.seattle.gov/2012/06/11/alki-bbq-pit-fire-injured-5-high-school-teenagers
      .
      Certainly not saying it’s impossible for the spokesperson to have received incorrect information, but at this hour, this is the official info that has been given to all media … and so that’s why you’re seeing it reported that way … TR

  • MB June 12, 2012 (1:40 am)

    Sooo sad! Thanks WSB for turning away the disrespectful and hurtful commenters. Regardless of the circumstances nobody deserves that pain. I can’t imagine!

  • Rob June 12, 2012 (6:10 am)

    No more bonfires for the rest of us…

  • Bonnie June 12, 2012 (7:43 am)

    Years ago my husbands cousin threw gasoline on a bbq. It was a stupid error and just because he wasn’t thinking or didn’t know. He had to be airlifted to Harborview from Kent. He is fine with no scars but if people don’t understand how fire works it could happen. I feel for those kids and their parents.

  • traci June 12, 2012 (8:04 am)

    Sad, sad. It certainly wasn’t the wisest descision, but when I was in high school I was guilty of being in groups that threw gasoline onto fires, and didn’t consider how dangerous it was. My heart goes out to these kids.

  • sa June 12, 2012 (8:30 am)

    I hope they don’t get rid of the fire rings just because of this.

  • dbsea June 12, 2012 (9:02 am)

    Young males. Was one myself and lived to tell the story.

    It’s important to talk to your kids about things that seem really obvious. Not that you can think of all the possible crazy dumb things they’ll do. But it’s important to talk about all sorts of things that might come up and what they should do. For example, “you’re at your friend’s and she brings out dad’s gun. Want to play with it?”

    Hopefully, eventually, they get the idea and learn what to do when something seems wrong or dangerous.

  • cher stefano June 12, 2012 (10:54 am)

    Prayers go out to the 5 injured and their families. Also as Grad weeks continue praying that this serves to be a lesson to all for safety in their celebrations. No one deliberately would cause this to happen to the kids but that said please be safe our Grads and teens and lets get through this without any more incidents. Drive safely play safely and BE SAFE cuz we Love you all.

  • Jiggers June 12, 2012 (12:57 pm)

    Kids!

  • Cait June 12, 2012 (3:24 pm)

    dbsea – so true. My dad taught me young the art of “being smart about being stupid.” It helped.

  • evergreen June 12, 2012 (8:41 pm)

    10-20% 2nd degree burns can be really serious, and it sounds from the report that two are in critical condition (burn unit at Harborview). This is major life-threatening trauma. I hope these kids are OK. The family needs a lot of support right now, and prayers.

    • WSB June 12, 2012 (9:23 pm)

      I did want to note that I checked back with SFD and the commenter from last night was correct – there were three boys, two girls taken to the hospital. Without their names (one has given media interviews and appears to be out of the hospital) I don’t have direct access to current condition info, but an Associated Press report that’s available via multiple websites says only four were admitted and that all were in satisfactory condition as of earlier today. – TR

  • Alkira June 12, 2012 (10:16 pm)

    I heard 4 went home today. Only one left in hospital and he may be able to leave tomorrow. Doesn’t sound as serious as I had imagined, but of course still awful.

  • Grundle June 13, 2012 (8:43 am)

    WSB, would you please post a story or somewhere notify everyone what the last days of high school are for West Seattle, rest of Seattle, and nearby high schools? I think one of them is next Friday. Alki is one of those communities that bears the brunt of these annual “celebrations” and it helps to know in advance when to anticipate this. The police department always seems to be take by surprise that high school graduates will descend on Alki once classes are dismissed.

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