(FIRST WSB REPORT WITH MULTIPLE UPDATES, LOTS OF PIX/VIDEO, CAN BE FOUND HERE)
Starting a new post to add more photos and any new information we get on the investigation of tonight’s fire at 2508 56th SW (map). Those two photos above were sent by David Hutchinson, who also contributed to our first 2 1/2 hours of fire coverage. The next photo is from D.S., who says it “was taken before the fire trucks got set up. Neighbors were hosing down the nearby house.”
At the scene, we talked with Shane Gilbert, who describes in this video clip what he heard just as the fire started:
And here’s an odd little scene we recorded around the corner – it’s not quite Nero fiddling while Rome burned, maybe more like taking advantage of a near-captive audience (since Alki Ave was blocked off at that point):
Still no update on the SFD media line (since the information we included in our first report); we’ll check again before taking our brief overnight break. 12:44 AM UPDATE: A tenant from the burned duplex had reported in comments on the first fire report that her cat was missing; now a followup comment says it’s been found. 3 AM UPDATE: Hotline now has an update – no cause determined yet, they need to “talk to a few more people, including the owner, who’s out of town” (as we reported in our first series of updates); the damage is estimated at $150,000 – $100K to the 86-year-old structure, $50K to its contents. Meantime, Logan Jenott sent along a gallery link and word of the unique perspective that afforded the chance to be shooting video as the fire trucks rolled up;
Here’s Logan’s story:
My volleyball team and I were playing a league game on Alki beach when my teammate Rob noticed a small fire burning on the covered deck of a house across the street. As the fire rapidly grew I grabbed my phone and called 911 while my teammates and I raced raced across the street. We were yelling that the house was on fire and my teammates Rob and Pamela pounded on the doors, trying to alert any occupants. One occupant was home on the ground floor and immediately evacuated. It took about 7 minutes for the first fire truck to arrive (my 911 call initially went to Kitsap County and they had to transfer me to Seattle, then I was on hold for about 1 minute before getting a dispatcher); by then the roof over the deck had collapsed, the fire had spread across the deck into the house and to the house next door. A large crowd had gathered and watched as a total of 5 fire trucks arrived and firefighters began battling the blaze.
From Logan’s gallery, you can play another clip that gives an even better picture of the number of spectators that gathered.
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