UPDATE: ‘Smoking materials’ blamed for house fire at 44th/Graham

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(Thanks to Steve for the photo)

1:29 AM: Seattle Fire units are arriving at what the first arrivals are describing as a “small exterior fire” at a house in the 4400 block of SW Graham.

1:38 AM UPDATE: The fire has since been described as coming from the house’s crawl space. Two people were inside, described as a man and woman in their 50s, and escaped without injury, according to emergency-radio discussion; Red Cross is being called to help them. Some SFD units are being dismissed.

1:49 AM: The fire’s been pronounced “tapped” and the cause is under investigation.

2:06 AM: SFD is cancelling the call for the Red Cross, which means either the residents don’t need help or that they’ll be able to reoccupy their house.

10:13 AM: We checked with SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore regarding the cause and the damage. He says investigators determined the fire was caused by “improperly discarded smoking materials (that) ignited a wooden planter of the front porch. The fire spread to exterior siding and crawlspace. The damage estimate is $50,000. There were no injuries.”

Seaview July 20, 2015 (1:37 am)

It looks like things are under control already.
Edit: Firefighters had a chainsaw going. Hope the owners can get things back to normal soon. Glad everyone safe and sound.

WSB July 20, 2015 (2:05 am)

Thanks. Seaview – The chainsaw is for ventilation; at more fire scenes than not, a hole is cut in the roof or someplace else. Cause under investigation and we probably won’t get that until later this morning. Graham – glad you saw it; so often an alert neighbor or passerby can be the difference between life and death.

Graham July 20, 2015 (1:56 am)

driving home from work saw smoke parked out front, banged on the door as I called 911. at 1:21 am, flames started to come up from under the house, circled around and banged on all the windows called “fire” Inside a woman woke up and said she didn’t need any help getting out. by 1:26 the first engine was arriving at the front of the house.

Gwen July 20, 2015 (2:15 am)

Thanks for the updates, am visiting family living a block over and wondered what was up. Glad all are safe and fire is out.

rob July 20, 2015 (11:40 am)

They should check if that planter box was full of miracle gro potting soil. This happened to us just last week. We stuck bug punks in the pot figuring it would be safe. went to bed at 10 PM woke up at 4am with neighbor screaming fire. went to my deck and it was in flames. I was able to get the fire out. I later went on line to see if miracle Gro would burn and low and be hold it turn out that the stuff has caused major fires all across the country. Had a bag at the house an nowhere on the bag does it say it is combustible. Did more research an found that Home depot is supposed to give a warning to customers about this. The sad thing is the Miracle Gro people are still fighting this. So beware that when this stuff gets dry it will burn

sam-c July 20, 2015 (1:45 pm)

what are ‘bug punks’ ?

mrsMarty July 20, 2015 (2:07 pm)

rob…I do believe any potting soil (indoor or outdoor) will burn if you put anything flammable in it, most potting soil is made out of garden bark (wood chips) crushed up into smaller pieces so that is highly flammable.

rob July 20, 2015 (3:25 pm)

MRSMARTY, We all know wood paper and a lot of other things are flammable but a lot of us think of potting soil as dirt or I use to. This potting soil smoldered for at least 6 hours in a 3foot long by 10 inch wide pot before it turned into flames. Also I meant mosquito coil. Granted I put the coil in it but never in my wildest thoughts did I think it would do what it did. So if you are ever at a large get together watch for people putting a butt out in a flower pot because 5 hours latter all hell could break loose. also it would be nice if this problem was on a warning lable on the bag like paint cans and other objects that have some sort of hazard about them

Matt S. July 20, 2015 (4:10 pm)

Must we have warnings on everything? I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know from news/movies/MacGyver that fertilizer is flammable and can even be explosive. I also know that anything smoldering probably shouldn’t be left unattended, particularly when it’s in the middle of summer and it’s so dry that everything’s just begging to catch on fire. Combining the two, even if throwing in some soil, seems like an iffy idea even without a warning label to offer reassurance.

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