Fire that wiped out Laurelhurst homes causes $7 million in damage
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SEATTLE -- Fire investigators say Monday's 3-alarm fire that destroyed a multi-million dollar Laurelhurst home and damaged a handful of others was accidentally set.
Investigators were on scene much of Tuesday confirming what was suspected late Monday: That a painter accidentally allowed lacquer fumes to permeate the house. When a furnace kicked on, it ignited the whole house and much more.
"(I was) 50 yards away and you felt you were standing in a bonfire," said witness Todd Hammer.
Several other houses nearby were ignited near the 5100 block of Laurelcrest Lane, panicking other homeowners. One painter was burned in the explosion and is being treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. A firefighter also suffered from heat exhaustion.
But once flames were out, investigators pored over the charred remains and estimated the fire caused $7 million in damage to the original home and its neighbors.
The home is owned by Adam Selipsky, a vice president at Amazon.com. The family was not living there at the time because of the renovations.
Tuesday, neighbors up the hill cleaned up the charred embers that floated quite a distance on the intense heat.
Jo Moniz says it was unsettling to see the burning embers by her home. "Especially since I didn’t know it was going on at the time."
The embers had actually ignited small fires elsewhere and made it even harder for firefighters.
“They started several spot fires on the hillside, plus they landed on three roofs on Latimer Lane," said Kyle Moore with Seattle Fire. "And so we had essentially three roof fires plus three spot fires on the hillside. And that's when our incident commander called for a third alarm, which brought in even more hoses, more ladders."
Nearly 100 firefighters ended up fighting the blaze.
Investigators were on scene much of Tuesday confirming what was suspected late Monday: That a painter accidentally allowed lacquer fumes to permeate the house. When a furnace kicked on, it ignited the whole house and much more.
"(I was) 50 yards away and you felt you were standing in a bonfire," said witness Todd Hammer.
Several other houses nearby were ignited near the 5100 block of Laurelcrest Lane, panicking other homeowners. One painter was burned in the explosion and is being treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. A firefighter also suffered from heat exhaustion.
But once flames were out, investigators pored over the charred remains and estimated the fire caused $7 million in damage to the original home and its neighbors.
The home is owned by Adam Selipsky, a vice president at Amazon.com. The family was not living there at the time because of the renovations.
Tuesday, neighbors up the hill cleaned up the charred embers that floated quite a distance on the intense heat.
Jo Moniz says it was unsettling to see the burning embers by her home. "Especially since I didn’t know it was going on at the time."
The embers had actually ignited small fires elsewhere and made it even harder for firefighters.
“They started several spot fires on the hillside, plus they landed on three roofs on Latimer Lane," said Kyle Moore with Seattle Fire. "And so we had essentially three roof fires plus three spot fires on the hillside. And that's when our incident commander called for a third alarm, which brought in even more hoses, more ladders."
Nearly 100 firefighters ended up fighting the blaze.
Oofda! $7m in damages! I'm in the wrong industry...
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Here's to a speedy recovery for the painter!
Glad there were no casualties. Could have been a lot worse than it was. Still...homes are lost and that alone is very sad. Hope they figure out who was responsible.
Lets see how much insurance covers this 7 million dollar fire..
Was this because this was a gas furnace? Â Would it have been prevented if the furnace was electric?
BFD...that's what insurances are for.
I bet dollars to donuts the painting contractor hired undocumented workers and has little, or next to nothing liability insurance. Any takers?
 @raydawg Oooh, maybe you're right! Or the painters were just some white guys from Kent or something.
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I'd bet dollars to donuts there are a million undocumented workers in our country that work 20 times harder than you do, and probably for less pay. Many of them being highly skilled at their profession.
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One of the painters was burned, does that make you giddy?
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 @countyclerk  @raydawg They ARE a force to drag down wages. I guess it depends what side of THAT argument you might be on. Some of the wealthiest people like to hire undocumented help.
Doesnt make it not illegal. I dont care how hard they work if they are illegal. Illegal is illegal. Get it??!!..............Probably not.
Sorry to see a persons home go up in flames!