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West Seattle Residential Fire

Approximately 10 minutes after 10 p.m. February 15, 2018, a neighbor noticed a fire behind a house near the 5200 block of 36 Ave SW and called 911. Firefighters arrived on scene to find a large column of fire behind the house which was quickly spreading to the neighboring house.  With two houses impacted by fire and power lines already on the ground, a second alarm was initiated which doubles the amount of resources responding.

 

Firefighters were able to quickly confirm that all the occupants were safely out of both houses and concentrated their efforts on extinguishing the fire.  It took approximately 20 minutes to get the fire under control and another 30 minutes to confirm complete extinguishment.  With the aggressive attack, the extra resources were not needed.

 

Fire damage to the original house was too substantial to reoccupy. The neighboring house’s damage was limited to the exterior but due to air quality inside, the occupants were rehoused temporarily. 

 

Fire investigators determined that discarded smoking materials on the back porch started the fire.  The cumulative loss to both houses is estimated to be $300,000.