UPDATE: Another fire in woods behind Home Depot

12:32 PM: Thanks to Jay for the photo. The column of black smoke is what was reported as an “encampment fire” in the woods behind Delridge Home Depot. One engine on scene has called for a reinforcement because of reported equipment trouble. We don’t have stats but anecdotally can say this is a fairly frequent callout area.

12:37 PM: Flames are visible looking northwest across SW Orchard from the Vietnamese Cultural Center, from which someone texted this photo:

Some video from the same spot:

12:57 PM: One engine remains at the scene; there’s no report of anyone being hurt. The vacant wooded land in that area is Seattle Parks property.

1:02 PM: The other engine is clearing the scene too, as the fire’s out.

935 March 29, 2026 (1:05 pm)

Our “compassion” in action

Derek March 29, 2026 (1:17 pm)

Literally build housing now. No height requirements. Fixable problem.

Question Authority March 29, 2026 (2:55 pm)

And just how will the rent be paid by those who have no money? More endless subsidies and with no guarantees of success and upward mobility? Free or taxpayers assisted is not open ended, there has to be some rules and expectations.
Jimmy K March 29, 2026 (3:44 pm)

[sigh] OK, so let me get this straight: we build more housing now and magically all these drug addicts and mentally impaired people can finally find rentals and afford rent, insurance, utilities, and all other necessary things to lead normal lives. There is no remotely possible way they can do it now, but with more housing, somehow the problem is fixed???
This kind of magical thinking is one of the reasons we’re in this mess to begin with, because unfortunately this nonsense trickles up to elected officials who then proceed to make policy based on it.
- natinstl March 31, 2026 (11:03 am)
  
  all of this. I’m sure some will find their way out, but likely due to their own perseverance coupled with some help. Likely a minority.

Dysfunction March 29, 2026 (1:24 pm)

If you drive by that area and really focus on the wooded hillside, you’ll see that it is really disgusting what has happened there. It looks like a third world country. This is all on the city for not cleaning that area out for good. With the hundreds of millions tax payers have paid for homeless services, why is it so hard to ask that those eyesores aren’t allowed to exist. So many fires in that exact area through the last couple years, and the state of the hillside there now looks like it will literally take a formal sanitized cleanup at some point when the city actually has the courage to not allow anyone back there. Accept shelter or move along

Stephen Miller March 29, 2026 (1:33 pm)

Waiting for the inevitable “but people in homes set garbage on fire in the woods too!” comments from the usual homeless apologists.

Alki resident March 29, 2026 (2:31 pm)

Home owners burning debris, is a controlled environment. The many years of burning behind Home Depot, is not.
Jort March 29, 2026 (3:08 pm)

Literally nobody is saying this except you.
- Adam March 30, 2026 (6:52 am)
  
  This aged well
K March 29, 2026 (3:19 pm)

Or just link recent stories of housed people inadvertently setting fires and causing hazards (the owners son was living in the house at the time of the fires).

https://westseattleblog.com/2025/10/fire-callout-on-16th-sw/
K March 29, 2026 (3:22 pm)

People in homes are sometimes setting spiders on fire instead of garbage: https://westseattleblog.com/2014/07/fire-call-in-arbor-heights-2/
- Alki resident March 29, 2026 (5:47 pm)
  
  That teenage boy felt really bad for doing it. It was his mom’s friend’s rental and he stood on the sidewalk shaking his head in disbelief. I still think of him now and then. I’m confident he won’t do that again. I’m still convinced the spider lived.

Marcus March 29, 2026 (2:56 pm)

High heat of summer and this is a dry year, we are going to have a forest wild fire.

Dysfunction March 29, 2026 (3:35 pm)

Derek, will that literally fix this? For a area that supposedly needs lots of new housing and that already has many areas with expanded zoning, there isn’t much being built. And not much on the horizon in the next couple years as well, with the Alki Lumber location as a prime example. No timeline to break ground there. The market decides when developers and investors think return on investment will be right. And we all agree we are talking about market rate housing since that’s what it is, which no matter how much is built they won’t be cheaper. No, I’m guessing you think housing should be subsidized for them to some degree. This isn’t a housing affordability issue for the vast majority of people living in those encampments. If it was 25% cheaper all of a sudden, do you think that will fix this? It will never get cheaper.

MRCV March 29, 2026 (7:20 pm)

Can we do a go fund me for the junction assoc or similar to hire some private security to keep these people from illegally camping after they are cleared out to fill the enforcement gap? What the hell is happening w SPD/Mayor and Council? Their only plan for this is seems to be to get everyone to look the other way and encourage that we feel compassion for the downtrodden lawbreakers running wild in a meth fueled haze. These are illegal encampments built mostly by drug addicts with stolen building materials on public property. Literally one hour before this story posted I drove by with my wife and kid. We saw how out of control this area is getting and realized we are coming into an el nino summer and an extra hot wild fire season. We talked about how it might take an urban wildfire that starts from one of these encampments during a hot dry summer that kills dozens if not hundreds of people before the city does anything to stop this. The city would be on the hook for billions in damages for allowing conditions like this to fester into a foreseeable and avoidable tragedy. Will the city do something then? Clearly there is illegal tree clearing and illegal dumping (likely human and haz waste). This is spreading like cancer. It’s time to end this failed approach. I can’t tell if it’s the police sabotaging the new progressive mayor or the mayor emphasizing virtue signaling solutions that don’t work. Build public run tent camps with appropriate services for people as first option while we wait for housing to come online. Remove ALL camps, tents, illegally parked RVs shortly thereafter. Work with the state and county to pass laws that result in redirection to housing or mandatory treatment. If housing or treatment refused that results in 2 months in jail to sober up there. Jails clogged? Partner with feds or another state. Raise my taxes and/or defund the social service providers that allowing this go on to pay for it. I am done with our status quo as I suspect 80% of my neighbors are too. Sorry if this sounds harsh but our soft approach to this problem based on virtue signaling has completely failed. I worry we are one or two tragedies away from a “falling down” situation if the city can’t get a handle on this. That would be an avoidable tragedy in and of itself. Enough.

Ms. Noem March 29, 2026 (8:08 pm)

That encampment fire was in a full cabin built out of pallets. They had a chimney venting out the eastern wall of that building. It’s no surprise it caught fire. They either had an unsafe fireplace/stove in it or they were making meth. Both reasons are unacceptable causes.

Sorry, comment time is over.