West Seattle, Washington
10 Tuesday
We all got excited October 12 when, the day after the demolition permit was granted, the ex-Schuck’s at California/Charlestown started showing some signs of impending activity. Then … nothing, till a construction permit for the replacement project was issued last Friday, and today, we got a reader tip (thank you!) that takedown crews were on scene … WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli went over for a look and reports, “… the entire interior is indeed gutted and the front windows are blown out. Looks like they went through the interior with a bobcat tractor [see second photo]. The north parking lot was full of burned-up debris.”
This one hit the inbox last week but is still worth discussing till the weather gets really bad, since so many of us live the outdoor lifestyle as far into the year as we can:
I was at a party in West Seattle … The fire dept. was called because we were having a backyard fire. It was in a fire pit, had a cage around the fire, hose was nearby as well as a fire extinguisher.The fire dept. didn’t ask about any safety questions, just wanted to know if it was a cooking fire. They said if it’s a cooking fire it’s okay. Implying that if we weren’t cooking, it wasn’t okay. I guess a neighbor had complained and the fire dept. had to come check it out. My friends have had problems with this neighbor before. My question is: What’s the law in regards to fires in your yard? How much does is cost to fire up those trucks and go look into those complaints? They brought the big truck and there were 5 firefighters.
The most recent information recorded on the Seattle Fire Department media info line says the fire that gutted this house on 23rd north of Willow this morning was “a set fire.” No elaboration on that, so far. The Fire Department also says no one was hurt and the family living in the home is now staying with relatives. The total cost of damage done by the fire is estimated at $150,000.
Big Fire Department contingent at 23rd north of Willow (just west of Delridge) because of a house fire. 9:50 AM UPDATE: Most of the fire crews are leaving now, but the house appears to be a total loss. 11:25 AM UPDATE: Brief P-I blurb says 7 people lived in the house and all got out OK.
UPDATE: As of 1pm there was still a fire crew on the scene. Here’s two pictures that were taken just half an hour ago.
A member of the family that runs the well-regarded Beach Drive Italian restaurant La Rustica had told us they hoped to reopen last night, after adding some remodeling work to the repairs following last month’s small fire. However, the work’s not quite done yet, so LR was still closed last night; our family contact says they are “working hard to open ASAP,” adding “the kitchen remodel is looking great!” and noting they have a big reservation for Saturday night & “intend to keep that reservation.”
If you’re in, around, or north of The Junction, you may have heard all the sirens. Numerous fire crews rushed to a reported house fire at 4050 45th (Dakota’s the nearest cross-street). Our first word at the scene comes from WSB frequent contributor Christopher Boffoli, who says it appears to have been a kitchen fire, and he’s not seeing any obvious signs of anyone having been hurt.
Christopher sends these two pictures of firefighters responding.
The popular, cozy Italian bistro on Beach Drive has been closed since the kitchen fire 10 days ago. La Rustica‘s owners were first hoping to reopen tomorrow, but we just checked with the family, and they say it will be one more week:
La Rustica will reopen Tuesday Oct. 9th. After assessing the damage from the fire and the time it would take to repair, we decided this would be a good time to refurbish and update the kitchen. Since it is such a small kitchen we are looking forward to the better use of space and efficiency. Thank you all again for your continued support and patience during this fire repair/remodel. We will see you all soon!
Truly,
The Pellegrini family
Received an intriguing note yesterday from someone saying she works with one of 
the two people forced out of their house by the Admiral/38th fire on Sunday night. The note-writer says the victims believe the fire was caused by something electrical, not “smoking materials” as the Fire Department was quoted in the P-I as saying, because, says the note-writer, neither of the victims smoke. We called the Fire Deparment’s public info office and left a message asking if anything about the suspected cause of this fire had changed; they didn’t call back. The note-writer says the folks at their unnamed workplace have started a collection for the fire victim, who reportedly suffered some other recent personal tragedy too. We’ll try the Fire Department again later …
Relief for Delridge residents — the burned-out car that had been sitting in front of a house across from Delridge’s northernmost Shell station is gone.
We took that photo over the weekend after a reader e-mailed us about the car; Mike Dady from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council told us action was under way to get it out of there, and that the person whose home it happened in front of, a longtime resident, was chagrined to have had this sort of thing happen outside his home. Mike reported it to SPD on Saturday after their Adopt-A-Street neighborhood cleanup (just too big to have picked this up and stuffed it in one of those yellow bags, unfortunately) and reminds us all that there’s an online form for reporting abandoned vehicles, especially helpful now that city codes allow for faster removal of junk vehicles (more here). Mike says Community Police Team Officer Brian Ballew (honored by the Seattle Neighborhood Group last week with a Community Builder Award — congrats) had this on his to-do list; looks like things moved fast. By the way, this gives us an excuse to mention one loose end from last week’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting — what to do about neighborhood nuisances. SNGi has tons of resources, including this “Take Action” brochure. (Here are other ways they can help you learn what you’re empowered to do to make your neighborhood better.)
While we were out getting “day after” pix of the fire scene @ 3809 Admiral, eagle-eyed WSB readers noted that the P-I is reporting Seattle Fire investigators blame the fire on “smoking materials.” 1st pic is the exterior damage, 2nd pic is the pile of burned-out stuff in the driveway. For those who have been through house fires, provided everyone got out OK (as was the case here), that’s one of the worst things afterward, regardless of who or what’s to blame — that charred mass that was your stuff, sitting for hours, days, maybe weeks, out in the driveway or the front yard.
In case you don’t see this new comment below our original post on last Friday’s La Rustica fire, Aimee confirms the October 2nd date heard on their phone recording over the weekend, and provides more information about what happened:
Hi all, I’m Giulio’s daughter. The damage was not severe and they should be up and running by the 2nd of October or before. It was a small kitchen fire but it did destroy one dining room wall. I originally painted that wall so it was hard to see but we’ll have the same look and great food up and running in no time. Thanks all for your concern and support. We love our West Seattle home and neighbors. Salute!
Thanks to the tipster who texted us to make sure we had heard about this big callout – fire in a house at 3809 Admiral, affecting traffic in the area for a while too. One WSB reader says she was dining across the bay and could see the smoke and flames from there, at the height of this fire. 10:03 PM UPDATE: TV reports say the house is gutted inside, the couple who lived there got out OK, and investigators don’t know what started the fire. Meantime, here are two photos sent to us by WSB readers who snapped them as smoke poured from the house — first one from Mark (thank you!!!!):
Second photo is from Jess (thank you too!!!!) — you can really see how traffic was blocked off on Admiral (if you didn’t happen to get caught in it yourself):
Here’s some video of crews mopping up — mostly flashing lights — we’ll check back on the scene in the morning too:
Went by La Rustica tonight, still closed in the wake of yesterday’s fire; then we called and eventually got a recording that says LR plans to reopen Tuesday, October 2nd.
We just called to check; the person who answered the phone at La Rustica said they’re closed tonight for sure and not sure how many more nights beyond that, because of today’s fire. More pictures, courtesy of reader David Schneider (thank you!!!).
Big fire/rescue callout so we rolled down to check. Fire crews are still there; heavy smell of smoke in the air, no external damage visible. No details yet about what happened; will be checking later how this affects business for tonight — let us know if you hear sooner.
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A preliminary Fire Department report confirms the fire last night at the Endolyne Garden building in Fauntleroy started in the garage. That’s where most of the damage is confined so far as we could tell from stopping by for a look this morning (that’s ceiling material dangling down onto the cars):
The west-side entrance canopy for Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant also burned:
5:42 PM UPDATE: We have just been forwarded e-mail about the restaurant’s status — it was not damaged by the flames but was closed for today “to clear out the smell of smoke”; owners were considering opening on a limited basis tonight, but DEFINITELY plan to be fully open tomorrow so Guadalajara can participate as planned in the fundraiser for the Fauntleroy Fall Festival — as a sandwich board sign across the street from the restaurant reminds passers-by, a portion of tomorrow night’s proceeds from Guadalajara are to go toward next month’s festival.
… permit filings are now in to rebuild the “live-work units” project that went up in flames three weeks ago (4132 Cali; here’s the original plan), and to repair one of the damaged buildings next door (4138 Cali). The arsonist or arsonists, meanwhile, are still running free out there somewhere.
These photographs just in from Christopher Boffoli show you more of what it was like at 45th/Wildwood at the height of the Fire Department response a short time ago:
All those sirens were for a fire at Endolyne Garden, the bright blue apt/condo building kitty-corner from the Original Bakery/Endolyne Joe’s business block — same building with Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant on the ground floor.
No, those aren’t flames in the center, just fire-truck lights — which lit up the night (along with the huge floodlight atop one of the biggest trucks) for blocks around. Witnesses we talked to say they saw flames, but fire crews got it out fast. The scanner report we heard earlier about a possible car fire being involved seemed borne out by this:
What you see there is smoke curling from some sort of smoldering wreckage just behind what’s left of the wall in front of the ground-floor garage, adjacent to the restaurant — we will check on its status first thing tomorrow. No ambulance/aid car activity while we were at the fire scene, so here’s hoping nobody got hurt.
Sirens are piercing the early early morning air here on the south side of WS: it’s a call to a building at 9212 45th SW. Not sure yet how serious; one scanner report said there’s a possible car fire at the address. More to come.
Makes sense, given what happened — but it’s eerie just the same to find this on the “permits issued last Friday” city list tonight.
A week and a half after the arson that destroyed the in-progress building @ 4132 Cali and forced nearby residents out of their homes, what was left of the charred ruins is now gone — driving to The Junction, we just noticed the demolition crew clearing the site (photo @ right is as close as we could pull over). Still no report of anyone under arrest; 800-55-ARSON if you have any tips that might help investigators.
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P-I has a short mention of the fire on Webster in east WS last night. (We saw the call on the city’s ever-handy live 911 log but it had closed before we were able to survey in person.)
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