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UPDATE: Hazmat response in Delridge

April 11, 2023 1:05 pm
|      33 COMMENTS
 |   Delridge | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts | WS breaking news

(Photo sent by Patricia)

1:05 PM: Thanks for the tip. SFD is at the Cottage Grove Commons supportive-housing building, 5444 Delridge Way SW, for a hazmat response because of what they’re calling a “strong odor” from one of the units. SPD has northbound Delridge Way blocked between Brandon and Findlay as a result. Updates to come.

1:14 PM: Now police are blocking both directions of Delridge.

(WSB photos from here down)

1:25 PM: Our crew is at the scene to find out more. So far that’s still all SFD is saying – there’s a strong smell emanating from one of the apartments, and the hazmat responders are strategizing what to do next – they’re not even in their protective gear yet so far as we can see.

1:48 PM: That has since changed.

We’ve spoken again with SFD and SPD on scene. As a commenter notes, this involved a resident mixing chemicals in the toilet of his unit, which he apparently has done before, believing he is extracting gold from rocks. The resident isn’t home now because, SFD says, he has been transported to Harborview for an involuntary evaluation. Hazmat responders have just gone into the apartment to try to figure out how to safely address the situation so there is no health or fire risk to anyone else.

2:07 PM: Hazmat responders have just told dispatch that their evaluation shows no imminent hazard, so they’re coming back out.

2:30 PM: The response has been reduced as a result.

2:45 PM: Dispatch has been told the street has reopened all ways.

ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: SFD spokesperson David Cuerpo tells us that, after entry, “Our HazMat crews found multiple household cleaning products in sealed containers and determined it was not a hazard. Residents were allowed to return to their homes shortly after.”

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33 Replies to "UPDATE: Hazmat response in Delridge"

  • Carolei April 11, 2023 (1:09 pm)

    A bus just drove past my house on 26th Ave SW. Now I understand why.

  • n7oep April 11, 2023 (1:18 pm)

    “Several chemicals mixed in a toilet”

    • West Seattle Mad Sci Guy April 11, 2023 (1:49 pm)

      Is this something you heard on the radio? 

      • WSB April 11, 2023 (2:15 pm)

        We have since confirmed that at the scene, as noted above. If it was initially on the SFD radio, we missed it because we were in transit and the incident was a few minutes old when we walked in the door.

        • CarDriver April 11, 2023 (2:21 pm)

          WSB. Any word if these were legal chemicals or were they illegal.

          • CarDriver April 11, 2023 (3:34 pm)

            WSB. Read your update. YIKES!  Am I right that “involuntary evaluation” won’t preclude him from coming back to his unit here and possibly doing this again?

          • WS Res April 11, 2023 (4:52 pm)

            You can create a major chemical hazard by mixing bleach and ammonia in your toilet, both legal.

          • Jethro Marx April 11, 2023 (10:24 pm)

            Why are you telling people this? Have you thought about it?

          • RickB April 12, 2023 (5:06 am)

            I thought this was well-known, but if it’s not, it should be: https://doh.wa.gov/community-and-environment/contaminants/bleach-mixing-dangers

      • N7OEP April 11, 2023 (2:17 pm)

        Not voice radio communication, but data sent over the air.

  • Roh April 11, 2023 (1:19 pm)

    The rapid ride H is following the 125 routing between 23rd and Orchard, no stops. 

  • valvashon April 11, 2023 (2:11 pm)

    With certainty I can now state that I have heard everything.

  • MyThruppence April 11, 2023 (2:30 pm)

    Involuntary evaluation being utilized in this case is awesome. Unfortunately, negative consequences are the only thing that some people understand. We must collectively accept that reality and act accordingly, minus any handwringing about it.

    • CAM April 11, 2023 (4:24 pm)

      Mental health treatment is not a consequence or a negative. 

      • it could be April 11, 2023 (4:29 pm)

        Well it probably feels a whole lot like a negative if you thought you were going to score a bunch of gold and be rich, and instead get hauled in for treatment and end up having to face reality.  That sounds pretty awful.

        • Justin April 11, 2023 (10:07 pm)

          I hope they at least let him keep his hard-earned gold. Seems to me like the involuntary evaluation was just an excuse for those people in full masks and gloves to steal his riches. 

    • WestSeattleBadTakes April 11, 2023 (5:46 pm)

      Bring on the fascism!

    • Lauren April 12, 2023 (1:26 pm)

      Involuntary evaluation is a medical term for when someone needs psychiatric help and isn’t seeking it. Typically, they have to present a harm to themselves or others—it’s not done lightly. So no, it’s not a punishment or negative consequence. It’s medical treatment. This sort of comment just furthers the stigma around mental health and doesn’t do anything to actually help the community. 

  • whataboutthecreedence April 11, 2023 (2:36 pm)

    Talk about a quick way to get evicted.

    • Lisa April 11, 2023 (4:04 pm)

      Doubt it. Laws lean way in favor of renters. I feel bad for landlords these days.

    • WS Res April 11, 2023 (7:46 pm)

      This is what supportive housing is for: to help people like this guy who is clearly not functioning in the realm of consensual reality at least some of the time. Don’t root for him to get evicted because then you’ll be complaining about him out on the streets.

  • DC April 11, 2023 (3:19 pm)

    Is there a set path the H line is supposed to go when the road is closed like this? 

  • Cancan April 11, 2023 (3:44 pm)

    He is a modern day alchemist! Gold from a stone!

  • Alki resident April 11, 2023 (3:46 pm)

    There are a lot of overdoses at this building. There needs to be a better system in place so they don’t O.D. On a side note, the bus wouldn’t have had to detour had those unnecessary islands were out in place. 

  • ltfd April 11, 2023 (6:41 pm)

    The lovely “supportive housing” at 5444 Delridge Way SW. It’s always a pleasure responding there: threatening behavior (towards responders), overdoses, assaults, arson, filthy/unsanitary units (flying insects, rotting food, fecal matter strewn about). Unless one is a resident who kills another resident, it takes multiple instances of assault, arson, or toilet alchemy to be evicted.

    • bolo April 11, 2023 (11:20 pm)

      Thank you for your service, LTFD.

    • WS Res April 12, 2023 (8:24 am)

      I’m sure it’s difficult to see up close how miserable others’ lives can be, but thank goodness the people who work there day to day don’t have the same level of contempt for the residents and their struggles.

    • Another One April 12, 2023 (2:46 pm)

      You put “supportive housing” in quotes–what could be done to make it more supportive? And if people are evicted, where would they go? 

  • The Earl April 12, 2023 (9:03 am)

    this housing has become a blight on the neighborhood. that’s the reality.

    • Jen April 12, 2023 (10:52 am)

      Your lack of compassion and abundance of disdain for people that have serious mental health issues is far more of a blight.

      • Alki resident April 12, 2023 (4:07 pm)

        You don’t know what goes on there and it shouldn’t have been placed smack dab in a path where children walk to school. 

      • DelridgeNeighbor April 12, 2023 (5:05 pm)

        Not a lack of compassion, rather it’s the cold hard reality of the negative impacts to the neighborhood from this complex.  No one disagrees that serious mental health issues need to be addressed. Sadly that is not happening; it’s visible on a daily basis near this building.  You also can’t blame all the problems the residents of building generate on mental illness.

Sorry, comment time is over.