Bryant house fire quickly tapped, no one injured (UPDATES)

A sharp-eyed neighbor called 911 after noticing a nearby two-story house (on the 6500 block of 37th Avenue NE) emitting smoke from the attic.

Twenty minutes later, responding Seattle Fire Department staff had the fire tapped. The fire had started in the kitchen of the home and spread upstairs to the attic, said the Seattle Fire Department’s Kyle Moore.

No one was home at the time of the fire.

UPDATE (1:05 PM): Seattle Red Cross is “assisting two adults and three children affected by the fire” (via Twitter).

UPDATE (3:19 PM): Some more details and fire safety tips from SFD PIO Kyle Moore (via email):

The cause was accidental. The homeowner accidentally activated the electric stove top with combustibles stored on top of the stove. Those combustibles ignited causing extensive damage to the kitchen and smoke damage to a majority of the house. A Seattle Fire Investigator estimates the damage at 50 thousand dollars to the structure and 20 thousand to the contents.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) says cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home injuries. Here are some safety tips from NFPA:

  • Be alert! If you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol don’t use the stove or stovetop
  • Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
  • If you are simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a timer to remind you that you are cooking.
  • Keep anything that can catch fire—oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains—away from your stovetop.

Ravenna Blog – Sunday Edition

Eckstein Middle School briefly locked down after dog attack

We’ve been updating the story over at Roosiehood. Click the picture below to read it in full.

The short version is: Dogs loose, bus driver bit, dogs captured by police, no students injured or involved.

Bad sledding run near Ravenna Park lands woman in the hospital (UPDATE)

A woman was taken to Harborview Medical Center this afternoon, after a bad sledding run landing near the southern end of Ravenna Park.

Seattle Fire Department Public Information Officer Kyle Moore contacted SFD staff at the scene and got us the details.


View NE 54th St sledding accident in a larger map

The 19-year-old college student was sledding down NE 54th Street around 3:30 PM when she slid over a jump, landed on some rocks, hit her head, and lost consciousness. She had regained consciousness by the time Seattle Fire Department units reached her, but she was taken to Harborview in a stable condition as a precaution.

Many thanks to Capitol Hill Seattle’s own Justin Carder who provided the tip over twitter.

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Please, people. For goodness sake: Make GOOD sledding choices.

Timmy was never the same after the extraction.
(Just kidding. This was an object d'snow art on NE 75th St from the snows of late 2008.)

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UPDATE (Thursday afternoon): Steve Sorbo (@macsosguy) caught some NE 54th Street sledding action for us today at the scene of yesterday’s crash.

Man and woman seriously injured in Ravenna Park attack (UPDATES)

A man and a woman were both beaten with a baseball bat early this morning in Ravenna Park. Police have not yet located the two suspects, and the investigation is ongoing.

We heard the news first from a resident of the area (via twitter direct message sent at 3:50 AM; kept anonymous due to privacy concerns), who said:

…police and medics congregated at 55th and Ravenna PL after a fight broke out. In the park. As officers arrived, two men emerged from the south end of the park saying that someone had beaten one or both of them with a bat.


View Ravenna Park in a larger map
View Larger Map

Just before 9 AM, Detective Mark Jamieson with the North Precinct of the Seattle Police Department, posted the following on the SPD Blotter:

On January 12th, at approximately 3:30 am, a citizen called 911 after hearing yelling and someone crying for help inside the southeast corner of Ravenna Park (approximately NE 55th Street and west of 25th Avenue NE). As officers arrived in the area, two victims, a 41 year old male and a 54 year old female, emerged from the wooded area. They had been beaten with a baseball bat multiple times. Both victims had head injuries as well as other injuries to their bodies. According to the victims, the suspect is a known male who they had a dispute with earlier. The suspect, described as a black male armed with the baseball bat, was accompanied by a white male. There is no further description of the white male. It appears that the suspect with the bat did the attack.

The Seattle Fire Department transported the couple to Harborview Medical Center with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

A K9 team attempted to locate the suspects within the large wooded park, but was unable to find them. The investigation is open and ongoing at this time.

We will update this story here when more information becomes available.

UPDATE (11:24 AM): Talked briefly on the phone and via email with Terrie Johnston, Crime Prevention Coordinator for the North Precinct. The first suspect is a regular denizen of the park, described as a black man in his late 30s-early 40s, wearing a black trench coat, a black backpack, black boots, and carrying a baseball bat. The second suspect is a white male adult. There was a fast response by multiple SPD units who established containment of the area quickly. Unfortunately, the K9 track produced neegtive results.

When I asked about the current state of Ravenna Park and if there were any additional concerns for park users and residents of the area, Johnston said this event wouldn’t stop her from using the park. She advised that users keep up their usual level of alertness though the park. Via the email:

As always, be aware of your surroundings, carry a cell phone to call 911 should you see anything suspicious.  Trust your gut feelings, if someone gives you a bad feeling, avoid them, leave and report them if appropriate.

UPDATE (12:58 PM): Kirotv.com has video of their report from their mornings newscast, as well as a slideshow of photos taken while police and fire crews were in the area.

Two fatalities, three serious injuries after crash on 110th and Lake City Way (updates)

UPDATE (Tuesday, December 6): SUV driver has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, one count of vehicular assault and one count of reckless endangerment. (Seattle Times)

UPDATE (Thursday, November 17): The Seattle Times’ Today File reports that the SUV driver has left the hospital, for jail.

UPDATE (Tuesday, 2:09 PM): The Seattle Times reports that the man driving the SUV in Sunday’s crash was charged in 2009 with vehicular homicide.

UPDATE (Monday, 6:32 PM): The Seattle Times’ Today File has information about the victims of the crash.

UPDATE (Sunday, 7:38 PM): More info on the Seattle Police Department Blotter here, including news that the injuries to the people taken to Harborview were non-life-threatening. Also, the accident detour will last until approximately 9 PM.

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Just after 4 PM on Sunday, November 13, Jonah Spangenthal-Lee (via SeaCrime on twitter) mentioned a “[b]ad accident with possible fatalities on 110th and Lake City Way.”


View Fatality accident at 110th and Lake City Way in a larger map

Since then, as details have come in, the story has turned even more tragic.

KING 5 News is reporting that two people have died at the scene, and three others have been taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Police say one car was stopped when another vehicle, an SUV, hit the car from behind.

The car caught fire as it was pushed down the street. Two people in the car were dead at the scene.

The male driver of the SUV was transported to Harborview Medical Center with life threatening injuries

Two girls in the back seat of SUV were also transported to Harborview with serious injuries.

The Seattle Times reports that the injured girls were a 10-year-old and an 20-year-old woman 11-year-old girl.

Updates will be available here at KING5.com and on The Blotter on seattletimes.com.

NE Library Firefighter Story Time: When you gotta go, you gotta go

Front grill of Engine 38 - THAT'S HOT

Firefighter Story Time at the Northeast Library (6801 35th Ave NE) yesterday had everything you’d ever want in a Firefighter Story Time: Lots of firefighters (one of which was in his FULL GEAR), a HUGE crowd of enthusiastic listeners, a good story highlighting fire safety, and ACTION.

Lieutenant Milton, Firefighter/Storyteller

The crew of Engine 38 treated a crowd of over 200 parents and kids to a reading of No Dragons for Tea: Fire Safety for Kids (and Dragons) by Jean E. Pendziwol.  But before he got too far into the story, Lieutenant Milton did warn the crowd about his pager:

If this thing goes ‘BEEP BEEP,’ we have to go.

We all laughed.

With so many eager listeners in the crowd, Lt. Milton had the rest of the crew spread out through the space with extra copies of the book so that everyone could see the pictures.

Firefighters Lt. Milton and John Paul Jones

Firefighter Becky Mathews turns the page.

Firefighter Dyer, not part of Engine 38's crew that day, was also on hand to help.

After the story, Firefighter Chris Hassel showed off his full firefighting ensemble.

Flash photography is NOT helping us out here, but still looks pretty cool. (Hassel on left, Lt. Milton on right)

A now helmeted and masked Hassel shows the crowd his position relative to a smoke-filled room.

At this point, the crew of Engine 30 headed outside to ready the truck for inspection.

Priority parking behind the library

Fire engine 38's cab section

One of many storage areas on the engine, opened up to reveal the equipment inside.

Doors to the engine’s cab were opened, and a multitude of storage areas were revealed all over the exterior of the engine.  Kids and parents filed out of the library and surrounded the engine and her crew.

Then Lt. Milton started to talk about the differences between fire engines and fire trucks, and how this engine hooks herself up to a hydrant,

This engine carries its own 500 gallons of water all the time! Neat!

and then we heard:

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Lt. Milton looks at his pager, says, “‘Motor vehicle accident.'” Pause. “We gotta go.”

“AWWWWWWW…” said the crowd.  What a bummer. But duty calls! What are you gonna do?!

The crew of Engine 38 rapidly closed up all the compartments and hopped in the cab as the crowd backed away to make room for the engine to head out.

Here’s a video of their all-too-soon departure:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7uxuTD-zT0&feature=player_embedded

I think the engine sounded really sad about leaving, don’t you?

But take heart, citizens of Northeast Seattle! There’s another opportunity to see a fire engine up close just this next week, as Firefighter Story Time heads to the Green Lake Library (7364 E Green Lake Dr N) on Wednesday, October 13 from 11:15-11:45am.

You can find the full schedule of Firefighter Story Times here, at the Seattle Fire Department Event Calendar page.

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EXTRA FIRE DEPARTMENT-RELATED TIDBIT: The NEW Fire Station 38 (across the street from the Sand Point Metropolitan Market) should be wrapping up construction around the end of December 2010. Stay tuned for open house dates, and information on how YOU could own the OLD Fire Station 38.

Neighborhood 911

At 6:23 last night, no fewer than 16 fire department units were dispatched to 70th and Ravenna Avenue NE in response to a fire at the multi-unit building on the NW corner of the intersection.

At approximately 8:00 pm, when we were coming home, there were still a couple units at the scene, including a ladder truck parked in the traffic circle.  A brief walk-by by yours truly revealed that the fire was out, many charred pieces of furniture littered the sidewalk, and more pieces were being removed by fire fighters.

Here’s a shot of the scene this morning:

Work has already started on the unit, which I think is a good sign.  As multi-resident buildings go, we’ve often admired this one as it blends in so well with the surrounding neighborhood of single-family homes.

If anyone has any more information on what happened or what anyone can do to help, drop us a tip.

UPDATE: There’s a bit about the fire on the Seattle P-I’s Seattle 911 blog.  No injuries, which is was I was wondering about and hoping for.