Update: Candles blamed for 25th SW house fire; 5 escape

(scroll down for newest info – adding fire cause at 2:47 pm)

(top photo courtesy Aimee, added 8:07 am; photo below, our original cameraphone pic from 7:01 am)

ORIGINAL 6:49 AM REPORT: Checking on house fire call in 5600 block of 25th SW (map). In e-mail, Aimee says the house was at one point “fully engulfed in flames.” According to the scanner, “one occupant of the house has received some injuries” and is getting help from the Medic 32 crew at the scene. 7:01 AM: Fire reported “knocked down … with hot spots and heavy debris.” Our crew has just arrived – added cameraphone photo above. From the front, house appears pretty much gutted. 7:17 AM: On scene, SFD tells us that five people got out safely (we’d heard on the scanner that was “one male, four females”). The fire is not believed to be “suspicious” but the cause is still under investigation. Still checking on the status of the person who’s being treated in Medic 32 at scene. (update) We’re told that the “one male” they were trying to check for smoke inhalation, refused treatment. 7:55 AM: In the media briefing at the scene, deputy chief Jessie Youngs said two of the people were in the basement and a neighbor was slightly hurt getting them out. Here’s our video of his 2-minute briefing:

And here’s a clip of firefighters inside the house once the fire was out (except for hot spots):

10:03 AM: Just checked with SFD; investigators are still working to figure out how this fire started. 2:48 PM UPDATE: Seattle Fire has just announced the fire’s cause – accidental, started by “unattended candles.” Damage estimate: $200,000. More info on SFD’s Fire Line site – including candle-safety information.

23 Replies to "Update: Candles blamed for 25th SW house fire; 5 escape"

  • whoknows February 16, 2010 (6:50 am)

    I was wondering… I live a block away and there was a TON of response to this… Hope everyone is ok!

  • Cw February 16, 2010 (6:53 am)

    I just looked out my window, there’s lots of smoke and a helicopter overhead.

  • Cw February 16, 2010 (6:57 am)

    Just looked our my window, there’s lots of smoke and 2 helicopters hovering over my house. Can’t see quite what it is though.

  • Andrew February 16, 2010 (7:00 am)

    Sorry to hear it, but do they really need a helicopter at 6:45 AM buzzing overhead?

    • WSB February 16, 2010 (7:01 am)

      It’s a news helicopter. Don’t know which channel.

  • Chris February 16, 2010 (7:08 am)

    Andrew: yes. If it was your family or friends in their wouldn’t you want all the help that was available? Didn’t you log onto this site to see the news of what was happening?

  • Aim February 16, 2010 (7:11 am)

    Drove past this on my way in to work at about 6:40. It looked and smelled horrible – burning rubber smell was very strong, almost like they had a bunch of old tires that went up.

    I hope everyone is ok.

  • Aim February 16, 2010 (8:43 am)

    Chris: Seconded. So a few people may have been woken up early and/or disturbed by the helicopter noise. A family lost their home.

    Perspective, folks.

  • rw February 16, 2010 (9:06 am)

    Random question: From the photo, looks like a ton of furniture and stuff within the fence. Did the firefighters or family take the furniture and chairs out in an attempt to rescue some items… or was all of that already there?

  • SarahScoot February 16, 2010 (9:14 am)

    Chris and Aim: the helicopter wasn’t for aid, it was a news chopper. I think it’s ok to be irritated by an unnecessary loud noise early in the morning, especially when the loud noise comes from a vehicle with a high environmental cost of operation.

  • MargL February 16, 2010 (9:22 am)

    rw – Google maps shows the stuff was already in the yard. I’m pretty sure firefighters would only be taking stuff out of the house after the fire is mostly out in order to look for ‘hot spots’ not in an effort to rescue furniture.

    • WSB February 16, 2010 (9:32 am)

      FWIW stuff does get thrown out the windows/doors as needed while fires are being fought. Have seen it at many scenes, but also, I will never forget the pile of debris in the front yard of my family home after it burned in 1970 … particularly the carpet with my mother’s jewelry (classic 1970 – peace sign, ankh pendants) melted into the fiber.

  • Aimee February 16, 2010 (9:53 am)

    So I live across the street and took the photo of the fire that’s posted. Got out of the shower to hear a neighbor pounding on doors to wake up the neighbors. Fortunately, everyone got out okay, with minor injuries.

    As far as the stuff in the yard. It was already there. There was quite a bit of junk – old refrigerator, lawn furniture, random stuff. So, what you’re seeing isn’t what the firefighters threw out. In fact, I don’t recall seeing them throw anything out of the house this morning.

  • Aim February 16, 2010 (11:10 am)

    I knew it was a news helicopter – I saw and heard it too. I still stand behind my comment. Some neighbors were inconvenienced for an hour or so by the sound of the helicopter. These folks lost their home. They win.

    If you still feel like you need to gripe about the helicopter, call Komo and complain about it. Just remember someone lost their HOME this morning. The rest of us just lost a little sleep. Not even comparable.

  • Derek February 16, 2010 (12:12 pm)

    I live across the street, too, and was super impressed by how quickly the fire department put out the flames. At one point, the entire house was an orange ball. But they went right after it and got it down in a matter of minutes.

    I know they’re just doing their jobs, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve praise. The houses next to this one could have easily caught fire had they not put it out so fast. What a scary thing to wake up to. Just glad everyone is OK.

  • m February 16, 2010 (2:59 pm)

    So, just to fill in some of the blanks…I also live across the street and was out there before 7:00 am.Yes some of the things were out there, the fridge and lawn furniture. The pile of stuff in front of the window was not!!! The fire department threw this out as they were trying to locate hot spots!!!The family is ok, the father did receive smoke inhalation and cuts on his hands from breaking the window out while saving his family. He did accept and receive treatment from Medic 1. The Red Cross has taken care of their housing for the night and luckily they had insurance to help them get through this!!! They are a wonderful family and we are grateful they are all safe!!!The fire department does deserve a world of gratitude for preventing the fire from spreading and getting it out quickly. They have yet to release what started the fire, but the family believes it started in the kitchen.

    • WSB February 16, 2010 (3:13 pm)

      M, thank you. We did add the cause of the fire to our story about 20 minutes ago. The Fire Department says it was started accidentally by “unattended candles.”

  • Andrew February 16, 2010 (4:10 pm)

    Glad the family has insurance and a place to stay. Just think the helicopter is a little un-necessary, unless you are trying to locate people who are a threat to public safety. Why worry everyone that a criminal is on the loose, every time we hear a helicopter over us? I will talk to KOMO about it and find out when and why they send a chopper, or whoever sent it…have friends at all 3 stations. I will say that I was awake and glad to see the news from wsb about it.

    • WSB February 16, 2010 (4:26 pm)

      Andrew – I don’t know if KOMO sent a chopper but KIRO definitely did – they mentioned it on Twitter.
      http://twitter.com/KIRO7Seattle/status/9187633177
      I worked in one chopper-equipped newsroom in this city (KOMO) and one chopperless newsroom (KCPQ). The one thing I can tell you is that if a fire breaks out during the morning show, as it did today, you’re much more likely to get a chopper visit because they’re up anyway to do traffic reports. If it happened at oh, say, 1 in the afternoon, it all depends on whether the pilot’s around, how bad does it sound – just to launch a chopper for a specific incident costs a fair amount of money, fuel and pilot time aren’t cheap – but in the am, something might be checked out much more quickly because they’re already flying – TR

  • Kevin February 16, 2010 (4:42 pm)

    Regarding the helicopter. I would be thankful that the helicopter was waking folks up!
    .
    I certainly would want to be awake and up. If the fire DID spread to nearby houses it would give folks extra precious time to evacuate their own house.
    .
    I for one, would rather KNOW than NOT know.
    .

  • wssort February 16, 2010 (6:06 pm)

    For crying out loud, stop defending the choppers’ presence already, what use were they really? It was the sirens that woke us all up. Living in the neighborhood I also thought some criminal was being sought after this morning when I heard them so I jumped outta bed and made sure all the doors and windows were locked (again). While I’m happy no one was hurt, I’m even happier there was no gang/drug/bored teen activity going on as per usual, however, the choppers weren’t necessary, even if the stations do need their ratings…

  • bluebird February 17, 2010 (10:22 am)

    wssort- no kidding. Stop telling people what perspective is appropriate as well. Sadly, fires break out all over the city every day. Unless there is a compelling public interest, we don’t need helicopters hovering over them for hours.

  • Michael February 18, 2010 (9:33 pm)

    The chopper was unnecessary, period.
    .
    That someone lost their home is irrelevant, and defending it on those grounds is silly. Media is getting faster and more compact, and those loud, polluting relics don’t serve much purpose besides allowing that station to get there first.
    .
    Be glad this isn’t 1980, or there’d have been 3-4 choppers circling.
    .
    As for the “need” to wake people up, the 7-8 emergency vehicles with sirens blaring did that rather nicely.

Sorry, comment time is over.