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One arrest after fire set inside Broadway apartment building — UPDATE

Firefighters called to the Broadway Crossing building early Tuesday morning found signs of a suspicious fire — and a combative man who was taken into custody by police who rushed to the scene.

Arriving fire crews to a report of smoke on the building’s fourth floor reportedly found signs of an intentionally set fire and person believed to be armed with a knife or gun. Police were called to help in a “fast backup” situation to assist the first responders and took the man into custody. A report of a second suspect was apparently unfounded but prompted police to evacuate the building.

The Seattle Fire Marshal was dispatched nearly immediately to the just after 3 AM incident in the Broadway and Pine apartment building to investigate.

Residents of the building, meanwhile, had a rough night’s sleep. Here’s a note from one sent to CHS:

Fire alarms went off around 2am. Fire trucks arrived and gave the all clear. Few minutes later the alarms went off again and no fire response until someone from the building called saying it wasn’t false alarm. He smelled smoke.

SPD is investigating the incident.

UPDATE: SPD has posted details of the arrest:

Seattle police arrested a 32-year-old man for arson early Tuesday after firefighters found him standing over a fire in the stairwell of a Capitol Hill apartment building.

Around 3 AM, firefighters responded to a building in the 800 block of East Pine Street after smoke tripped an automatic fire alarm. After arriving at the apartment complex, firefighters entered a stairwell and found a 32-year-old man standing over a pile of burning debris. The man whispered that there was someone else in the stairwell with a gun, and firefighters noticed the man was holding a knife in his hand, so they backed out of the building and called for police.

SPD officers arrived and approached the stairwell and arrested the 32-year-old man. A team of officers checked the stairwell for signs of a man with a gun, but only found scorched walls, smoldering debris, and a burnt cellphone.

Police recovered two knives and a lighter from the man and booked him into the King County Jail for investigation of arson.

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Mark
Mark
7 years ago

It seems as though all hell has been breaking loose on Capitol Hill.

Whichever
Whichever
7 years ago

Ahhh, meth. Works wonders. Coming soon to a enablement injection site near you!

Amber
Amber
7 years ago

I live in the building, & let’s be clear about what WE are upset about: Seattle Fire “cleared” the building and sent all of us back in to a building that was STILL ON FIRE. As soon as the trucks pulled away the fire alarms went off again, & many residents waited thinking it was the fire people resetting alarms or such. Smoke on at least 2 floors roused us out again though, and we had to call the fire department to come back ourselves despite the alarms going off. I literally had to argue with 911 dispatch that YES, they had just been there, and YES there was still a fire, and please please come back! Very, very unsettling to say the least. Don’t know how the guy got inside in the first place, but upon finding suspicious fires one would think they’d look around a bit more thoroughly. Many families tried to file a complaint that night, but Fire directed us to SPD and SPD directed us to Fire. :(