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.
Fate of old Fire Station 38 to be decided by City Council; public comment period begins
Now that the new Fire Station 38 (4004 NE 55th St) fully operational, it’s time to determine the fate of the old one (5503 33rd Ave NE).
Your new house?
From today’s press release (from the City of Seattle’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services; emphasis mine):
If sold, the Fire Facilities and Emergency Response Levy Fund (which paid for the new fire station’s construction) could be refilled to the tune of a million dollars — the property was appraised at just over a million dollars in 2009, according to King County property records.
The building itself was granted landmark status in 2004; therefore, changes in the structure are limited and the city’s Historic Preservation Program must be contacted prior. (Read the full Seattle Fire Station No. 38 Landmark Nomination Report (pdf; 26 pages!) for more information on the history of the Fire Station 38 and the surrounding neighborhood.)
Comments about the sale of old Fire Station 38 are due by May 18, and will be incorporated into documentation presented to the City Council. Send your comments to Rich Gholaghong via phone (684â€0701), by eâ€mail (richard.gholaghong@seattle.gov) or by regular mail (Rich Gholaghong, FAS Real Estate Services, P.O. Box 94689, Seattle WA 98124â€4689).
__________________
At the FAS’s Real Estate Services’ homepage, a variety of documents detailing the sale recommendations and next steps are available. I have also linked to them here, for your convenience: