Seattle police are trying to find an arsonist.
They say someone has set four fires in South Seattle since Saturday. Right now, SPD says they do not know if the fires are connected.
A fifth fire was reported Thursday morning in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle. It happened in a garage/living space unit (an ADU) being built in the backyard. The fire also spread to the main home and several nearby homes and cars.
SFD said nobody was home at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported.
SPD Detective Eric Munoz tells us the fire is considered “suspicious circumstances”. It is still being investigated.
SFD put out a list of all the fires that they are investigating as intentional since Saturday:
- July 26 at 7:31 a.m.: fire in a residence under construction in the 2000 block of 19 Ave. S. Damage estimate is $20k.
- July 30 at 3:46 a.m.: structure fire in funeral home in the 4500 block of Rainier Ave. S. Damage estimate is $300k.
- July 30 at 4:20 a.m.: fire in residence under construction in the 3300 block of S. Hanford St. Damage estimate is $50k.
- July 30 at 6:41 a.m.: fence on fire in the 3300 block of S Hanford St. No damage estimate.
The fifth fire was this morning’s incident in Beacon Hill.
Seattle Police say they are actively searching for the person or persons responsible for setting the previous four fires.
One of the fires, set at the Columbia City Funeral Home and Crematory, was caught on camera.
Police tell us that because of that video and other evidence from the four fires, they believe they know who they are looking for. They tell us officers don’t have a name for that person, but they have a good description.
We spoke with witnesses of the Beacon Hill ADU fire. They tell us the flames were so hot it was hard to even stand outside nearby.
At the scene, our KIRO 7 crew saw nearby homes, cars, and trash cans melted.
Sam Post, a homeowner who lives next to the fire, tells us the fire shattered the windows on the north side of his house.
He said he woke up confused and shocked.
“I stood up out of bed, looked out the window, the flames were just two stories high, the entire structure completely engulfed,” Post said.
He lives in a multi-story townhouse. He tells us his first instinct was to grab a hose.
“Just started wetting down as much as I could so my unit wouldn’t catch fire, I started yelling at my neighbors for them to get up, and they went to the roof too,” Post said.
He said he refused to give up without a fight.
“I mean, in this economy? Honestly, I was not losing my house today, I saw that as my only chance to save my unit,” Post said.
Firefighters confirmed that nobody was inside the structure or the main home on the property during this fire, and nobody was inside any of the structures during the other fires this week, either.
Seattle PD says they are trying to shift the focus from defensive to proactive as they try to catch the person who may be responsible for setting some or all of the fires.
Today’s fire has not been listed as arson, just suspicious.
“Suspicious circumstances and under investigation, but we do know just the night before we had two fires ruled as arson in the same area, and that’s not more than a mile from here,” Detective Munoz said.
Right now, it’s unclear if all the fires are connected.
“We do know there’s an arsonist in our midst, so I would encourage everyone to be vigilant, especially in the early morning hours,” Munoz said.
This is a developing story. We are working with SFD and SPD to find more information on the arson investigation.
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