Seattle Fire responded quickly Thursday morning to a blaze inside a second-story unit in the Erawan Apartments at 421 Bellevue Ave E.
Responding units arrived to the 8:25 AM callout to find smoke coming from the back of the six-story building. Ladder 10 and a large contingent of assisting units had the fire “tapped” and out by 8:36 AM.
One patient was being evaluated at the scene. The fire marshal was dispatched to the scene just above the morning’s traffic-clogged I-5 to determine the fire’s cause.
UPDATE: The cause of the Bellevue Ave E fire was unattended food on the stove, Seattle Fire tells us. The damage estimate is $7,000. Medics evaluated the resident but he declined treatment.
There were no less than 15 fire trucks (not counting ambulances and fire marshal SUVs) filling Bellevue from Thomas to at least Republican. Any idea why the huge turnout?.
standard operating procedure for fires in multifamily style housing — and really any housing fire. Strategy is scramble your resources quickly and call them back if not needed. Part of the reason for under 10-minute taps.
Makes sense, really. Thankfully, the area wasn’t blocked off for long.
Or walking up the hill to get the 49, which will be overcrowded and move slower than someone walking. Hopefully the light rail station will take some pressure off (in a COUPLE OF YEARS, ugh). Still wish they could keep the 47 at least in peak morning and evening hours for majority of commuters. I bet no dice though. P.S. Thanks SFD for stomping out the fire!
This was meant as response to 47 comment below. Whoops.
Gave us a taste of life will be like without the 47 bus. Masses of folks walking to work.
Yikes, scary stuff. Glad it was put out quickly. I’m really OCD about double checking my stove when I leave my home and this sort of thing is why.