Smoky fire damages Seattle apartment building
SEATTLE - All residents of a four-story apartment building on Boren Avenue were evacuated after a smoky, two-alarm fire broke out Sunday morning while most were still asleep.
Firefighters were called to the scene at about 6:50 a.m. as flames shot from a window and thick, black smoke spread throughout the brick building in the 1400 block of Boren Avenue.
Eighty to 90 residents were evacuated from Oxford Crest apartments, many of them groping their way blindly through darkness as the dense smoke billowed throughout the structure. Residents of the upper floors escaped down a stairwell.
One of those who escaped was Helena Stitzel.
"I saw my blinds kind of being melted," she says. "I immediately screamed for my roommate and ran out. I had to pull some people from the hallway because they couldn't see."
One man who lives in a fourth-floor unit was rescued via a ladder when he couldn't find his way through the smoke. He broke out the window in his room as firefighters maneuvered the ladder in place and helped him down to the street.
Apartment manager Jeff Fortier witnessed the rescue.
"I heard the gentleman on the fourth floor yelling for help," he says. "As I looked up, smoke was billowing out the window. He smashed the window to try to get access to the exterior as the fire department put up an extensive ladder. Two gentlemen went up, got him, brought him down and put him into an ambulance."
The unit where the blaze started was a total loss, as were two adjacent apartments. The building's second and third floors suffered heavy smoke damage, and a total of eight units are considered uninhabitable.
A woman who lived in the unit where the fire started said she tried to extinguish the blaze herself, and suffered minor burns to her hands before giving up and fleeing from the apartment.
A resident of a neighboring unit pulled the fire alarm, which started the evacuation.
The building manager also helped evacuate residents after getting his own family safely out of the burning structure.
Investigators said the fire started in a sofa that was pushed up against a space heater. The building sustained an estimated $200,000 in damage, and there was an additional $50,000 in damage to contents and furnishings.
Two people were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment of smoke inhalation. Another resident was taken to Harborview as a precautionary measure. Twelve others were treated on the scene.
Many of the evacuees were bundled onto a Seattle Metro bus as a temporary measure to keep them warm.
Firefighters said it appears everyone got out of the building.
The Red Cross is helping 10 displaced residents find a place to stay.
Firefighters were called to the scene at about 6:50 a.m. as flames shot from a window and thick, black smoke spread throughout the brick building in the 1400 block of Boren Avenue.
Eighty to 90 residents were evacuated from Oxford Crest apartments, many of them groping their way blindly through darkness as the dense smoke billowed throughout the structure. Residents of the upper floors escaped down a stairwell.
One of those who escaped was Helena Stitzel.
"I saw my blinds kind of being melted," she says. "I immediately screamed for my roommate and ran out. I had to pull some people from the hallway because they couldn't see."
One man who lives in a fourth-floor unit was rescued via a ladder when he couldn't find his way through the smoke. He broke out the window in his room as firefighters maneuvered the ladder in place and helped him down to the street.
Apartment manager Jeff Fortier witnessed the rescue.
"I heard the gentleman on the fourth floor yelling for help," he says. "As I looked up, smoke was billowing out the window. He smashed the window to try to get access to the exterior as the fire department put up an extensive ladder. Two gentlemen went up, got him, brought him down and put him into an ambulance."
The unit where the blaze started was a total loss, as were two adjacent apartments. The building's second and third floors suffered heavy smoke damage, and a total of eight units are considered uninhabitable.
A woman who lived in the unit where the fire started said she tried to extinguish the blaze herself, and suffered minor burns to her hands before giving up and fleeing from the apartment.
A resident of a neighboring unit pulled the fire alarm, which started the evacuation.
The building manager also helped evacuate residents after getting his own family safely out of the burning structure.
Investigators said the fire started in a sofa that was pushed up against a space heater. The building sustained an estimated $200,000 in damage, and there was an additional $50,000 in damage to contents and furnishings.
Two people were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment of smoke inhalation. Another resident was taken to Harborview as a precautionary measure. Twelve others were treated on the scene.
Many of the evacuees were bundled onto a Seattle Metro bus as a temporary measure to keep them warm.
Firefighters said it appears everyone got out of the building.
The Red Cross is helping 10 displaced residents find a place to stay.