Two deliberately set fires under investigation

Two cases of deliberately set fires:

(Monday photo by Tim Durkan)

SOUTH DELRIDGE FIRE: As noted in an update earlier on our coverage of Monday afternoon’s fire at a vacant house near 16th/Barton, SFD ruled it was deliberately set, and said they had referred the case to police. We subsequently followed up with SPD; they had not yet assigned the case to a detective. If you have any information, the case number is 25-64894.

STUDENT SUSPECTED OF FIRE-SETTING: SPD released this incident summary tonight:

At 1324 hours, a group of high-school students were on a tour of a community college when unidentified students dared another student to set fire to something in an auditorium. The suspect waited until the auditorium was empty and then proceeded to set fire to a flag/pole. Campus staff smelled the smoke and responded. Security extinguished the fire with no further property damage beyond the lingering smell of smoke and fire extinguisher chemical. The suspect was identified and later released to a parent. ABS was advised of the incident.

According to archived emergency-radio audio, two SFD units were dispatched at 1:20 pm to Olympic Hall on the south end of the South Seattle College campus, and the fire was out before their arrival, so they left quickly.

29 Replies to "Two deliberately set fires under investigation"

  • Rhonda March 12, 2025 (12:12 am)

    Why wasn’t the student arrested for arson?

    • Neighbor March 12, 2025 (2:59 am)

      They can still be prosecuted without being arrested.

    • WSzombie March 12, 2025 (5:26 am)

      Seattle law defines arson as the intent and result of the fire to cause damage. The article states no damage was done except for the smoke smell and the fire starting student’s ego after being the first person ever to get rejected from a community college application. 

    • KT March 12, 2025 (6:11 am)

      Likely will be arrested/charged later.

    • LJJ March 12, 2025 (7:14 am)

      @Rhonda – Exactly. They think they’re ready for college, but it sounds like what they really need is a lesson in real-life consequences. 

      • Jake March 12, 2025 (9:06 am)

        The obsession with imprisoning everyone who you don’t like, or who is poor, is getting out of control in west Seattle. Especially young people. Please get rid of your carceral mindset. If it worked, we wouldn’t have so many repeat offenders. And crime wouldn’t exist. It doesn’t work. 

        • Dwg March 12, 2025 (11:18 am)

          who said they’re poor?

          • Jake March 12, 2025 (12:13 pm)

            Key word is “or”… the poor part isn’t directed at this particular story but more in the general “incarceration is the only solution” comments I see on here sometimes. 

          • Jr March 13, 2025 (10:08 am)

            Yes, let’s let them keep getting away with it. Until something happens in it affects you. Then you will want them to get away with it too. Huh when they burn down your house huh because they’ve become a firebug talk

        • flimflam March 12, 2025 (11:57 am)

          Are you serious? What an awful take – the poor innocent sweet summer child committed arson for crying out loud.

          • k March 12, 2025 (12:29 pm)

            You can acknowledge that a child did a terrible thing and also understand that incarceration is not the only or best answer to the problem.  You can acknowledge that a child did a terrible thing while also acknowledging that there are biological differences in the brains of teens and adults.  Just because a child has done a terrible thing does not mean YOU need to lose control of your faculties and deny reason, logic, and science when responding to the incident.  Channel your inner grown-up and use reason, instead of reaction.  

          • Neighbor March 12, 2025 (2:27 pm)

            Yes and we have a justice system that assumes innocence until proven guilty.  If there’s no risk of repeat offense why should the accused be imprisoned before charges are brought?  Even if they were arrested they could buy their freedom with bail.  Arrest isn’t supposed to be a punishment.  Do you know something that isn’t in the story that suggests the accused is a risk to the community?  Of course you don’t or you would have provided that.  The human tendency for vengeance is exactly why we delegate violence to the state.  It’s what allows a peaceful society to exist without literal witch hunts.

        • Brian March 12, 2025 (1:35 pm)

          I think it’s ok not to like people who set fires. That doesn’t seem like a moral stretch for me in any sense.

          • Neighbor March 12, 2025 (2:29 pm)

            Brian nobody is defending the accused.  Some of us just understand how and why the justice system works.  The willfully ignorant will remain confused.

        • 1994 March 12, 2025 (9:44 pm)

          Fire setting is risky for many reasons. Fire setting should not be considered a minor offense. Fire setting can become a serial problem for some people so it should be ‘nipped in the bud’.

    • Street Chimer March 12, 2025 (7:29 am)

      Incarceration isn’t always the best approach to teaching young people to think before they act.

    • Derp March 12, 2025 (10:08 am)

      Because they are juveniles. 

    • Frog March 12, 2025 (11:53 am)

      And will it affect their chances for admission?  I understand that South Seattle College is not a selective institution, but I wonder if they require no previous attempts to set the campus on fire.

  • WSCurmudgeon March 12, 2025 (8:00 am)

    As Ms R notes “…ABS was advised of the incident.”  ABS is the Arson Bomb Squad of SPD.  Rhonda is very familiar with police terminology and procedures; she works in law enforcement.  This clarification is for other readers. 

    I hope that ABS has the time and resources to thoroughly investigate (and likely refer to prosecutors) not only the person who burned the flag, but the person(s) who “dared” him/her to do it.  The legal term is “incite.”  Incitement is itself a separate crime if the incited behavior is determined to be a crime. 

    Olympic Hall is the major auditorium on South’s campus.  It was designed by the same firm who designed Benaroya Hall. A fire there, had it spread, could have hurt or killed a lot of people, and resulted in a big financial loss to SSC. Just replacing a flag and properly cleaning the surrounding area will be a large bill. 

    Why wasn’t the apparent perpetrator arrested following the burning?  Perhaps because no police were on scene. The SPD summary mentions only “security.”  Ms R uses the term “fire-setting” to describe the student’s behavior, because she is an experienced journalist. 

    The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) describes at great length the actions that can be charged as arson, reckless burning and malicious mischief.  Each term has several classes.  Its going to be rather complicated just to draw up the charging documents.  I fear that the “inciters” may escape entirely.  Ultimately they may be more dangerous than the [Expletive Deleted] who torched the flag.

    • Rhonda March 12, 2025 (4:07 pm)

      ABS has arrest authority.

  • Lauren March 12, 2025 (8:16 am)

    Because they’re a kid who made a (really really stupid and harmful) mistake. Should there be consequences? Yes. But arrest/jail time is not going to help. (You can look up stats on this if you want.) 

    • wscommuter March 12, 2025 (9:37 am)

      Please explain what “consequences” you have in mind, if not arrest/jail time.  

      • Vest March 12, 2025 (10:18 am)

        Paying for whatever repairs are necessary and completing an extensive term of court-ordered community service seem like an obvious starting point. The person who did this was an idiot teenager, and most people grow out of this sort of thing. The most likely result of sending them to prison is to cut them off from good influences and possibilities for a normal life, and set them up for further crime.

      • k March 12, 2025 (10:32 am)

        Community service, especially something related to the crime (helping campus maintenance so they get to know the people whose lives and jobs they affected, helping other fire victims, etc.). Not only does it work better than incarceration, it’s cheaper for the taxpayers too.

      • Jake March 12, 2025 (12:39 pm)

        Why should they? You all just mock restorative justice when it provably works. What’s the point of reiterating any of it to close minded people?

      • Neighbor March 12, 2025 (2:31 pm)

        The fact that you consider arrest a consequence suggests you don’t believe in truth seeking and instead wish for venegeance.

      • Lauren March 12, 2025 (6:38 pm)

        As I said, you can look it up. There are many, many resources on this topic.

  • bill March 12, 2025 (8:46 am)

    The students who made the dare should be in big trouble, too. 

  • Harborview RN March 13, 2025 (8:44 am)

    As a retired Harborview RN, these firefighters potentially could have been needed to save someone’s life, instead of responding to this.  

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