By reporter Steven Smalley
UPDATED-A blaze in a carport on 22nd Avenue West, reportedly started by a young person playing with fire, destroyed three cars and the structure housing them at mid-day Thursday.
Neighbors were on hand to call the fire department and to shout for residents to get out of their homes. One renter, a mother of two, was sleeping with one of her children when she heard popping noises. After seeing flames in the backyard, she grabbed her two children and raced outside.
?It?s horrible to see. You think your house is going to go up in flames,? said Beth Young, who made it out the door with a child under each arm. Calling her a hero, Beth?s husband, Eric Young was joyful. ?What can I say? She got everyone out safe,? he said. He was not home at the time of the fire, but arrived soon after.
One neighbor who saw the flames spreading, began to fight the fire. ?I got a hose and I was praying (the fire) wouldn?t go past the fence,? exclaimed Tate Rogers, who shouted for residents to evacuate, with the help of a friend.
Several fire units responded to the blaze with quick action knocking it down before it spread to nearby homes.
Fire officials are investigating. Click here for the video.
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EARLIER-We just got word of a single house fire on 22nd Ave W?, between W Barrett and W?Armour. More info to come.
It was put out. https://twitter.com/SeattleFire/statuses/347848376890564608
That explains the hovering news helicopter. Hoping for little damage and of course that all are safe.
Seattle Times is reporting that the “arson bomb squad” has been called in. Geez.
Walked by the scene, it was a car port and and three cars (no people injured from what I saw)
This was not a “child playing with fire”. Two local news stations reporting a 12 year old taken away in handcuffs. From the looks of it, and the flames shown on TV shooting into the sky — it’s evident that this was intentional arson. This was not a little kid playing with matches.
We had an arsonist in the neighborhood a few years back, set fire to a home with an elderly man asleep in his own home in the middle of the night. I have no sympathy for arsonists. For the safety of our neighbors, I do hope the 12 y/o gets the help he needs.
This story needs an update to its update, because Otter2 is right. It wasn’t a “child playing with fire.” In fact, to quote a fire dept. spokesperson in a Seattle Times story, “it was definitely intentionally set”. http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/06/3-vehicles-destroyed-in-magnolia-carport-fire/
Like Otter2, I sure hope the (alleged) arsonist is getting some serious help. I know he’s only a kid, but It’s VERY disconcerting to know we live a couple doors down from someone so troubled. It doesn’t matter how old an arsonist is, as this incident showed, they can be terribly destructive.