(Image courtesy @PorchlightSEA)
(Image: King County)
Seattle Fire Department units worked to extinguish a stubborn fire inside the wall of a stairwell of 10th Ave E’s Stanford Arms apartment building Tuesday night after a day of record temperatures in the city.
SFD was first called to the scene around 9:38 PM and began fighting the fire. According to radio dispatches, firefighters discovered the fire was continuing to burn inside the wall on the third level of the three-story masonry and wood frame building.According to county records, the Stanford Arms was built in 1929.
UPDATE: Firefighters reported the incident was “under control” just after 10:15 PM. We are not aware of any reported injuries associate with the fire.
10th Ave E northbound was closed to traffic at E Boston as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze. Southbound traffic was diverted at E Miller.
The Seattle Fire Marshall was called to the scene to investigate the cause. UPDATE 7/2/14 9 AM: Seattle Fire tells us the cause of the fire was determined to be overheated electrical wiring in the wall in an unoccupied apartment. The fire did an estimated $25,000 damage to the building. Despite the day’s hot weather, it could not be determined what caused the old wiring to overheat. Seattle Fire says occupants of two apartment units will be displaced due to damage from the fire and response.
At around midnight, there was the… interesting sight of a hook-and-ladder truck backing up north on Broadway, near Boston, with all of its exterior lights on and pointing in all directions. That’s a tiny street, but the drivers were obviously skilled, and managed to somehow get back to (presumably) 10th. Not sure how they ended up there in the first place, though.