March 1—A Seattle Fire Investigator is classifying a fire at a Capitol Hill apartment building as accidental. The cause was determined to be oil overheating in the kitchen.
At 11:35 p.m. a 911 call came into dispatchers at the Fire Alarm Center reporting a kitchen fire in the ground unit of a building located in the 500 block of Harvard Avenue East. Engine Company 25 arrived to find flames visible from the basement window of the 3-story brick building. All of the occupants had safely evacuated by the time the firefighters arrived.
Firefighters rescued a cat trapped inside the burning apartment.
Crew made aggressive attack on the flames contained the fire to the single ground floor unit. The fire was knocked down within 8 minutes of firefighters arriving on scene. The fire was completed extinguished within 11 minutes.
Firefighters used large fans to ventilate the smoky apartment. Metro brought in a heated bus to shelter evacuated residents from the cold weather.
The fire investigator determined oil cooking on the stove ignited and spread to the entire kitchen and to an adjacent room. The total damage estimate is $65,000 which includes $15,000 to the contents and $50,000 to the structure.
There were no injuries to the occupants or the firefighters.
