January 27-A Seattle Fire Investigator determined a top floor apartment fire on Capitol Hill was caused by a mattress placed against an electric baseboard heater. The electric heater ignited the mattress.
At 10:54 a.m., multiple 911 calls came into the Fire Alarm Center reporting a fire on the top floor apartment of a building in the 400 block Belmont Avenue East.

Capitol Hill Engine 25 arrived first to find light smoke coming from the a 4th floor apartment. Ladder Company 10 initiated a search and rescue operation. Firefighters found a female resident of a 4th floor apartment with singed hair and suffering from mild smoke inhalation. AMR transported the patient to Harborview Medical Center for an evaluation.

It took approximately 20 minutes to completely extinguish the flames.

The fire investigator estimates structure damage at $15,000 and content loss at $30,000.

The Seattle Fire Department’s Public Education Unit advises residents to keep all combustible materials at least a foot away from baseboard heaters. For more information on heater safety, you can click on this link.

http://www.seattle.gov/fire/pubEd/brochures/homeHeatingSafety.pdf