UPDATE: More West Seattle ‘brush fires’ – fireworks, cigarettes…

ORIGINAL REPORT, 9:49 PM SUNDAY: Just before our side trip to investigate the no-longer-a-mystery music, we stopped by the latest West Seattle “brush fire” call, 5000 block of Erskine Way, just southwest of The Junction. The top photo was sent by Janet, who said neighbors attacked it even before firefighters could get there. Engine 32 was there and already wrapping up by the time we arrived:

(WSB photo)
While firefighters couldn’t find the source, neighbors believe fireworks were to blame for starting it (around 7:40 pm). The flames swept across a grassy embankment just north of the Erskine roadside. No structures damaged, nobody hurt. But this one brought in several tips – thanks as always (206-293-6302 text/voice any time).

ADDED MONDAY MORNING: We also received this photo from Brandon:

That Sunday fire near 34th/Juneau is blamed on a cigarette. And as we were writing this, a comment came in about a similar situation within the past hour in Morgan Junction. It gets drier by the minute out there, so please be extra-extra-safe.

12 Replies to "UPDATE: More West Seattle 'brush fires' - fireworks, cigarettes..."

  • igg July 6, 2015 (8:10 am)

    It’s so dry out there. I was walking to the Morgan Thriftway about 7:00 am, and in the 6500 block of California, I saw smoke coming out of a flower bed. Sure enough, someone had dropped a cigarette that wasn’t out, and the bed was smoldering. I didn’t see any people around, so I called it in to 911. When I came back from the store, I could see the FD had doused it. Very scary that even in our usually damp Seattle, a cigarette could set off a fire. If I hadn’t walked by, it could easily have spread to the apartments.

    • WSB July 6, 2015 (8:14 am)

      Thanks, Igg, that would have been the 6700 block California brush-fire call that was closed before I even saw it on the 911 log … adding a couple things here and will mention that too – TR

  • flimflam July 6, 2015 (9:07 am)

    while some rain would be great, the majority of these in-city fires would not exist if people would dispose of their trash (smoking materials) or maybe not throw fireworks into dry bushes.

  • Franci July 6, 2015 (9:44 am)

    I’ve witnessed more than one driver recently discarding their cigarettes out the car window as they are driving. So careless!! This isn’t okay when we aren’t in a drought, but its even worse now as the impact goes from littering to high fire danger.

  • anonyme July 6, 2015 (9:47 am)

    There is actually a fine of $1k + for throwing a cigarette out of a car window.

    It is enforced just as strictly as the fireworks ban.

  • John July 6, 2015 (11:12 am)

    Why would you throw cigarette butts out the car window?

    “Cigarette Butts – Effects on our water

    Each butt contains the remnants of tobacco and paper plus the filter. The residue in the butts contains some very toxic and soluble chemicals.

    Cigarette butts are not biodegradable! Given that the life of a cigarette butt thrown on the ground can stay there for up to 25 years, there is time for the toxic chemicals that the filters trap by design to leak out into the natural environment. These chemicals include arsenic, acetone, ammonia, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, lead, and toluene. The poisonous potency of these lit-up leftovers is amplified when the butts are leached out by rainwater.

    A recent laboratory study led by Elli Slaughter of San Diego State University, shows that when cigarette butts enter the water supply, they are deadly to fish and marine life. This is especially true if a small amount of tobacco clings to the stub. The study revealed that a single cigarette butt soaked in a liter of water for one day resulted in vastly diminished water quality and the death of 50 percent of the fish therein. The study also found that when tobacco was not present on the filter, it took four cigarette butts, rather than one, to leave the same wake of devastation.

    Our Wildlife
    Toxic Snacks – Death by ingestion
    Improperly disposed butts end up in the rivers and lakes where fish and animals eat them by mistake and quite often die from it.
    Research conducted by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that cigarette debris is responsible for killing at least one million sea birds and 100,000 mammals annually.”

  • SJ2 July 6, 2015 (11:56 am)

    The 34th and Juneau brush fire came back a second time an hour later and the fire department had to come back out. This time they doused the entire area.

    • WSB July 6, 2015 (12:57 pm)

      Sorry to hear that, SJ2. Thanks for the update.

  • ScubaFrog July 6, 2015 (1:40 pm)

    I’m half-deaf, and I heard big booms all night – again, here on Alki (sure it was the same for most of West Seattle). Hopefully the firework season ends with no one here dying, and no homes/structures being burned to the ground.

    I wonder if the SPD gave out any firework fines? I’d bet not. Why have a law – when it’s not enforced? I acknowledge that the SPD has a remarkably hard job in a growing city, when the Department’s numbers aren’t growing to meet the higher demand. And I acknowledge that holidays like the 4th must be bedlam for all emergency services. After the 4th though, when you see SPD driving by people who’re actively lighting off fireworks, it’s disheartening. The same can be said about SPD ignoring the Noise Ordinance, and the Cruising Ordinance. My 2 cents anyhow. We pay them way too much to turn a blind eye, to blatant violations of the law.

  • Pdr July 6, 2015 (6:30 pm)

    Scuba, you should file a pdr request for the number of fireworks tickets SPD handed out. If it was zero or a low number, you can spell it out to them for next year.

  • ScubaFrog July 6, 2015 (7:21 pm)

    Pdr thanks for the idea – will do.

  • anonyme July 7, 2015 (7:08 am)

    Pdr, I was wondering how to do that. It would also be helpful to know how many fireworks calls come in and how many actually get responses. The problem is that the system is rigged to accept as few calls as possible. Citizens are supposed to call non-emergency for fireworks complaints. I’ve never been able to get through on NE, even after holding for 40 minutes. So, if SPD is using the number of calls as stats to minimize the problem – that’s also a problem.

    Scuba, I’ve seen cops carefully maneuver around major fireworks setups in the middle of a street, blocking the street, and keep on going. Last fall, the fireworks idiots a few houses over were setting off rockets horizontally that were shooting between (and into) houses at eye level. Someone could have been killed. The 911 operator reluctantly took the call, and recommended I call back once there was fire or injury. I received a voice mail from SPD 6 hrs later saying they were too busy to take the call. A cop I know confided to me that they have been ordered to stand down in terms of fireworks enforcement.

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