West Seattle Blog…

Arbor Heights fire aftermath: Hydrant upgrades almost complete

Seattle Public Utilities says it’s almost finished with the hydrant upgrades promised after water-flow problems hampered firefighters’ work to extinguish the flames that destroyed an Arbor Heights home on August 27 (WSB photo at right). We spoke with SPU today, after Arbor Heights resident Kevin McClintic clued us to work that’s been under way in the area this week (and shared the photo atop this story).

According to SPU’s Ingrid Goodwin, “Ten of the 12 hydrants that were identified for upgrades have been replaced with larger, standard-sized hydrants. The remaining two hydrants, located at 107th SW and 35th Ave SW, and 100th Street and 35th Ave, are scheduled to be replaced by the week of November 14.”

During work yesterday, several Arbor Heights residents noted on the WSB Facebook page that they lost water service but hadn’t received advance notification. Goodwin says SPU had warned “about 15 to 20 homes along 100th between 39th SW and 44th SW” that they would lose water yesterday, but the shutdown affected more homes than those. She said, “This was not supposed to happen, and we apologize for the disruption in water service to those customers. SPU is investigating why those homes, outside of the shut-down area, were affected.”

The new hydrants are painted yellow “for greater visibility,” Goodwin says, adding that while they originally planned to upgrade 11, a twelfth was identified and added to the list.

Ahead – see the list of the replacement hydrants’ locations: Click to read the rest of Arbor Heights fire aftermath: Hydrant upgrades almost complete…

Video: How the city’s getting ready for winter windstorms

Mayor McGinn‘s been on the road all morning – including visits to West Seattle Elementary and West Seattle High School – our stories on those are coming up shortly, but first, an early-morning stop at Seattle City Light‘s control facility in Ballard. That’s of interest to WS because the topic was how the city – particularly its electric utility – is better prepared for winter windstorms than, oh, say, five years ago (anyone remember December 2006?). We tried to make it over to Ballard to cover it in person but – no exaggeration – almost-winter weather set us back (we walked out of the house this morning to a much-iced windshield and couldn’t find the scraper!). So here’s the Seattle Channel video. We’re betting they talked about the SCL mobile website we mentioned here yesterday; will add other toplines later, for anyone who can’t (or doesn’t have time to) check out the video.

ADDED 12:46 PM: Most of the toplines are in the official city news release that’s since been sent out; the mayor also noted that SCL has 50+ more lineworkers than at the time of Windstorm ’06 – read the news release (including family preparedness advice, which the mayor also stressed) after the jump: Click to read the rest of Video: How the city’s getting ready for winter windstorms…

Outage? Bill-paying? Seattle City Light goes mobile

Good to keep in mind as storm season approaches – and for other reasons – Seattle City Light now has a mobile site – just announced at m.seattle.gov/light:

On the site, customers can report a streetlight problem, get information about outages, read City Light news, get money-saving energy conservation tips, or find links to contact the utility on other matters. Customers who are signed up for eBilling also can pay their bills. The mobile site is accessible to any phone with an Internet connection. A free mobile app is now available on the Android Market that will launch the mobile-enabled web pages. An iPhone version is pending with Apple for distribution in the iTunes store. … City Light already is looking at ways to enhance its mobile site. Customers who use it are encouraged to send feedback and suggestions for potential additions to webteam.scl@seattle.gov

West Seattle Weather Watch: Tree blamed for Alki power outage

6:26 PM: Thanks to the WSB’ers who texted us with news of a power outage on Alki. It’s confirmed on the Seattle City Light “system status” map – 131 homes/businesses, blamed on a tree, estimated restoration late tonight. The map shows it affecting people east/northeast of 54th, also upslope on Bonair. More as we get it.

8:09 PM UPDATE: The outage is now off the SCL map – indicating it’s been fixed. (If not, let us know!)

Keeping West Seattle waterways cleaner: The city takes on CSO

Story and photos by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Seattle Public Utilities brought its CSO (Combined Sewer Overflow) Planning crew to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center tonight for a community open house to share information and to get public comments related to overflow-reduction projects around the city.

A CSO is what happens when heavy rainfall overloads the capacity of existing tanks at treatment plants. Excess water is deposited directly into Puget Sound, Lake Washington and other streams and creeks without being treated — putting oil, toxins, and raw sewage directly into our waterways.

You may have heard about CSOs here before over the past two years – but that was about the plans for county facilities; now, it’s the city’s turn.

Click to read the rest of Keeping West Seattle waterways cleaner: The city takes on CSO…

Test drilling to start this week in the Lowman Beach area

Work crews are scheduled to be in the Lowman Beach area this week and next, doing work related to the county’s plan for a million-gallon storage tank to reduce sewer-system overflows into Puget Sound at Murray Pump Station. County spokesperson Annie Kolb-Nelson confirms drill rigs will be in the area to begin “geotechnical boring,” explaining: “Basically, a contractor will be drilling six small-diameter holes (about 6 inches) to test soil and groundwater conditions. Engineers will use the data to help design the facilities.” The six spots above show where they’re drilling. Here’s a flyer with full details – note there might be traffic effects in the area as the work proceeds over the next two weeks. Kolb-Nelson also confirms that one of the area’s property owners has accepted a purchase offer. The county has to buy the land (currently privately owned and residential) across from Lowman Beach Park, one way or another, to build the project (which is explained here), and could obtain it via “eminent domain” if necessary. More details about the project’s status are expected at a community meeting this Thursday, 6:30 pm in the hall at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW).

Lowman Beach sewer-overflow-control project: 2 updates

As the county starts to design the project meant to reduce combined-sewer overflows from Lowman Beach’s Murray Pump Station, there are two updates: First, a community meeting has just been announced for October 20th, 6:30 pm at Fauntleroy Church. The “facility design process and project schedule” will be presented. Second, the county is now recruiting 12 people to be on a Design Advisory Group for the rest of this year, and most if not all of 2012. The Murray CSO-control project involves building a huge underground storage tank on what is currently residential property across the street from Lowman Beach Park. Interested in being on the advisory group? More details of what’s involved, who they’re looking for, and who to contact, are on this flyer.

Fauntleroy Expressway street lights should be shining again

So says Seattle City Light, with whom we checked after we – and two WSB’ers who e-mailed us – noticed a sudden stretch of streetlights in the dark on the Fauntleroy Expressway end of the westbound West Seattle Bridge. SCL spokesperson Suzanne Hartman checked it out; we also noted an SCL truck near Walking on Logs this afternoon; and tonight, Hartman says crews fixed a “blown fuse” and that should have the lights on again.

Update: West Seattle power outages after first blustery blast

Thanks to Cluny and Debbie for e-mailing to report a power outage caused by a fallen tree. Seattle City Light‘s status map says it’s affecting at least 27 customers (homes/businesses), in stretches both west and east of the Delridge/Orchard intersection, where Debbie says the signal’s out as a result, and to the south. City Light lists the estimated time of power restoration as 11 am. (Though the wind’s relatively calm at the moment, we have multiple reports of blustery conditions in the 4 am hour, when the tree came down, so this may be the first effect of the storm systems that brought the alert noted here last night.)

9:24 AM UPDATE: Just back from checking it out – adding photos. The entire 4-way intersection of Delridge/Orchard is marked with signs since the signal is out; Orchard/Dumar is closed east of Delridge, since that’s where the City Light crews are working.

The National Weather Service says more blusteriness is on the way.

11:18 AM UPDATE: The City Light map shows two more small outages – one that had been mentioned in comments on our earlier weather report, in the Admiral area, cause “unknown,” and the other further south on Delridge, at Kenyon, listed as “bird/animal”-related.

11:53 AM UPDATE: Just checked the Delridge/Orchard intersection – the traffic signal’s working again, but the road east of Delridge is still closed. Commenter from Admiral says that outage is over too.

EVENING NOTE: The road to the east is fully open again, too.

Caution, work zone ahead: Sewer work in Beach Drive area

Heads-up in the north Beach Drive area Wednesday and Thursday. From King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division:

On Sept. 21, crews with King County’s clean-water utility will begin a two-day project to replace corroded equipment inside a sewer structure on Southwest Spokane Street between Beach Drive Southwest and 62nd Avenue Southwest [map].

For safety reasons, the work is scheduled between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when system flows are lowest. Though most work will take place below ground, neighbors might experience noise and glare associated with construction vehicles and generators. During work hours, traffic will be reduced to one lane of local access on Southwest Spokane Street. Flaggers will be on site to assist drivers.

It’s possible some work may need to occur during daytime hours on Sept. 26. People with questions can contact Heidi Sowell, King County Wastewater Treatment Division community services planner at Heidi.Sowell@kingcounty.gov or 206-684-1207 or 711 TTY.

South Transfer Station: Why it looks like it’s being taken apart

If you have driven by the South Transfer Station project just southeast of West Seattle, and wondered why it looks like it’s being taken apart – you’re not seeing things. After tips via e-mail and Twitter, we checked this morning with Seattle Public Utilities, and spokesperson Susan Stoltzfus acknowledges, yes, “there is some disassembly.” She explains that a more-durable paint was found during construction – after some of the framework had already been painted – and, “once we found we could save $3 million in maintenance costs over the life of the structure, we decided it was worth the upgrade.” She says the overall project will still be finished on time and within its budget, and they are “using three different paint shops” to accelerate the process of sandblasting off the original paint and applying the new paint. The reason paint matters so much, she says, is because the transfer station is considered a “wet environment.” (Our photo at right is from this July story; we plan to go by this morning to see how much “disassembly” is visible.)

Arbor Heights fire aftermath: Some hydrants to be upgraded

Another followup today on the water-pressure/access problems that hampered firefighters in the early going on August 27th, when flames gutted an Arbor Heights home, sending black smoke so high into the sky that it could be seen for miles around. We have reported that Seattle Public Utilities, which is accountable for hydrants and water service, plans an “after-action review” with the Seattle Fire Department. And today, we just got word that SPU plans to take two steps for starters:

First, SPU spokesperson Susan Stoltzfus tells WSB, eleven hydrants in the area will be replaced with larger hydrants – she says those hydrants are attached to some of the area’s larger water mains, and could be upgraded to provide better water pressure. (Those 11 do not include the two hydrants that firefighters first tried to use on August 27, she says, because they are connected to smaller mains and just enlarging the hydrants wouldn’t do any good.) Second, she says SPU and SFD will decide on a way to make it obvious to firefighters which are the lower-pressure hydrants and which are the higher-pressure hydrants. These are not the only steps they’re going to take – that review is still ahead – but she says this is something they can do relatively quickly (within three months) to help.

(The family who rented the home, you may recall, was out of town when the fire happened; as we reported last week, they are continuing to get back on their feet.)

Update: Power outage in south West Seattle over, & explained

10:22 AM: Thanks to Nathan for that photo of Seattle City Light workers digging near 45th/Roxbury (map). City Light’s Scott Thomsen tells WSB that’s where crews first found trouble while trying to trace the source of an outage that’s kept hundreds without power since yesterday afternoon. He explains, “When the calls first came in, crews found a blown fuse and limiter near Roxbury and SW 45th. Those are devices that are designed to protect the transformer and they did their job. It took a while to determine why they blew. Ultimately, crews determined that the problem was a failed underground cable. We have identified where the failure took place and crews are working right now to dig up the failed section and replace it. Estimate for restoration of service is about 2 pm.”

11:52 AM UPDATE: Nathan reports his power’s back on (and the SCL map no longer shows any outage in the area). He says neighbors wonder if the problem had any relation to the underground work in the area these past few months; we have asked SCL that question and will update when we get the answer.

1:13 PM UPDATE: From SCL’s Thomsen: “I have confirmed that this section of cable was one of those tested during our cable injection project for Brace Point. It was deemed unsuitable for injection because it had deteriorated too badly. As a result, it was scheduled for replacement, but failed before that work started.” (The “injection” relates to the “underground work” link in the 11:52 am update – some of the recent work in the area had involved boosting aging cables with silicone injections, and scheduling replacements for those that were too far gone.)

West Seattle power-outage update: ‘Equipment failure’

(Updated screen grab of City Light outage map – click here for a “live” look)
ORIGINAL 4:17 PM REPORT: Just got a note from Eddie, who says they “heard a big explosion … south of Fauntleroy ferry dock,” and are without power. The City Light map says 165 customers in that area are without power, and the cause is listed as “equipment failure,” with hopes of getting the power back by 7 pm. More as we get it.

4:25 PM UPDATE: Now up to 335 customers affected. We’re headed for the Fauntleroy/Endolyne business district to make sure they’re OK. (Update – they are, power IS on in the business district; the map above is from City Light’s website, and suggests the outage area starts just south of there, and is mostly west of 45th/Marine View Drive.)

6:21 PM UPDATE: The City Light map reverted to 165 customers (homes/businesses, though we believe this is all residential) so we’re going with that. It also has changed the restoration estimate to 2 am. And we’re hearing there is a Comcast outage in the area as well.

6:47 AM UPDATE: Still not fixed, according to the SCL map, which is back to the 335-customer estimate, and listing early-afternoon restoration. We’ll be checking directly with the utility’s media team as soon as they’re reachable this morning.

City plans ‘after-action review’ of Arbor Heights fire’s water woes

(Saturday photo by Katie Meyer)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The slack hoses told the story early on at Saturday evening’s house fire in Arbor Heights.

But what was really the problem that led to an inadequate water supply/pressure for firefighters, and forced them to run hoses to relatively distant hydrants?

(Saturday photo by Tony Bradley)
(You can see some of the effects in this bystander video we just found.) A spokesperson for Seattle Public Utilities, which is accountable for the hydrants, tells WSB that SPU and the Seattle Fire Department plan an “after-action review” of the incident.

That’s part of what emerged in our follow-up conversation this afternoon with SPU’s Andy Ryan.

Click to read the rest of City plans ‘after-action review’ of Arbor Heights fire’s water woes…

Update: Comcast speed problems in West Seattle

9:13 AM: In case you’ve noticed this – it’s not just you. Via Twitter and e-mail, we’ve gotten reports of Comcast Internet speed problems – and experienced it ourselves in the 7 am hour at WSB HQ in Upper Fauntleroy. Comcast confirms it’s having problems – apparently not just West Seattle – and is working on them. They’re hoping to have it fixed by mid-afternoon.

12:56 PM: Multiple reports say this has been fixed as of less than an hour ago – let us know if you are still having trouble (but of course first make sure Comcast knows!).

THURSDAY UPDATE FROM COMCAST: Just out of the inbox, from Comcast communications VP Steve Kipp -

On behalf of Comcast, I want to apologize to our West Seattle customers and respond to the people who have commented here as well as my friends and neighbors who contacted me yesterday asking why their Internet speeds were so slow yesterday morning. The short answer is that we were doing some maintenance work overnight on a small portion of our network serving West Seattle. Normally, this type of work, which takes place nearly every night of the week on some portion of our network across the state, results in little or no disruption to our customers and is completed well before people wake to go to work. However, in this case, our network technicians ran into an unforeseen problem that resulted in the work continuing well into the morning and resulting in slower speeds for some of our West Seattle customers. If you have any questions about your service or would like to contact us directly you can call us at 800-COMCAST or reach us at We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com or @ComcastCares on Twitter.

Seattle City Light Fauntleroy work: Another potentially noisy night

Some residents near the Fauntleroy ferry dock say the overnight electrical work by Seattle City Light has been keeping them sleepless, to the breaking point. The utility first issued a warning early this month; then last week, neighbors said it got really loud, as noted here – one commenter called it “the most obscenely loud jackhammer ever.” SCL’s Scott Thomsen responded by saying the jackhammering is done. But there’s word from City Light that tonight might be noisy again, so neighbors are bracing themselves. One is even putting out an open call for a lawyer who they could consult; Chuck Sawyer (ecccsawyer [at] q.com). He and others say they are concerned not even so much about this work, which is scheduled to run another two weeks, but a precedent it might set for other future work in the area, including the Barton Pump Station adjacent to the dock.

ADDED 3:27 PM: Chuck’s video with the jackhammering from last week.

Overnight construction under way by Fauntleroy ferry

A few residents near the Fauntleroy ferry dock have e-mailed/called, wondering about late night/early morning construction work that’s under way this week. We doublechecked; it’s part of the electrical upgrades mentioned here a week and a half ago, for the nearby Barton pump station (prelude to this), for construction of a RapidRide bus stop, and for an electric-vehicle-charging station. The official Seattle City Light notice (see it here) did warn that the work hours would shift to 7 pm-4 am this week when the project moved to the immediate vicinity of the ferry terminal, to avoid conflicts with traffic during the busiest hours for ferry use. The project is scheduled to last at least two more weeks.

Crews working on parking-lot wastewater spill in West Seattle

Just in from King County Wastewater Treatment Division:

Employees from King County’s clean-water utility are working to control an overflow of treated wastewater from a manhole at the intersection of West Marginal Way S.W. and S.W. Front Street.

The incident began late this morning after a contractor unbolted a manhole cover, causing a currently undetermined volume of treated wastewater from the South Treatment Plant in Renton to overflow into the intersection and a nearby parking lot. The treated wastewater is being pumped from the plant for discharge into Puget Sound through a mile-long outfall off of Duwamish Head.

For the flows to subside, the treated effluent in the system has to fully drain. Until this occurs, operations staff will hold flows in storage at the plant. Once the flows normalize, crews can safely enter the area to begin needed repair work.

This is close to the Highland Park Way/West Marginal Way intersection – here’s a map.

Traffic alert: City Light work near Fauntleroy ferry terminal

Just in from Seattle City Light – electrical work in the Fauntleroy ferry terminal area starting Monday – details ahead: Click to read the rest of Traffic alert: City Light work near Fauntleroy ferry terminal…

Update: West Seattle Comcast service restored, outage explained

9:33 AM: We’ve received multiple reports of Comcast trouble this morning – from Admiral to Arbor Heights (we’ve also heard so far from Alki and Lincoln Park). The cable company confirms it is doing maintenance/upgrade work in West Seattle, and if you’re having cable/Internet trouble, that’s likely the problem; we’re still checking to see if there’s an estimate for how long this will last.

10:41 AM UPDATE: Comcast spokesperson Steve Kipp says everyone should be back on now: “The outage to our high-speed Internet service was due to network maintenance and upgrade work we were doing last night. Normally, this work takes place overnight, when it impacts the fewest number of customers. Unfortunately, in this instance our network engineers took longer than expected and did not complete their work until about 10:15 a.m., when service was restored. The outage impacted customers primarily in West Seattle.”

Clotheslines banned at High Point – but maybe not for long

Sightline Institute, which advocates for sustainability, recently set out to find out where in the Northwest it’s against the rules to hang your laundry out to dry. With help – including Diane‘s thread in the WSB Forums – they discovered several communities, including the High Point development here in West Seattle – a place where clotheslines aren’t allowed, though “green” features abound. Sightline says the ban is a missed opportunity for saving a significant amount of electricity. So why isn’t outdoor laundry-drying allowed at High Point? We asked the Seattle Housing Authority, which manages the development, and spokesperson Virginia Felton sent a lengthy reply – including word that the policy might be up for reconsideration: Click to read the rest of Clotheslines banned at High Point – but maybe not for long…

About that big construction project near the 1st Ave. S. Bridge

Tonight while checking out the truck-crash scene near South Park, we also took this photo of a nearby project that we’re often asked about: It’s Seattle Public Utilities‘ new South Transfer Station for trash and recycling. Ground was broken on a frosty day last fall; the facility is expected to open in about a year. The city’s official info page for the project is here; we found additional details and renderings on the architects’ website, including the big stats: Nine acres, 141,000 square feet of structures.