The Seattle Fire Department has ruled a fire that caused approximately $3 million in damage last Wednesday at Discovery Park was an accident.
Just before 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, crews were called to a historic home that was in the final stages of renovation on the former site of Fort Lawton. The empty, unoccupied home, is located on the north side of Officer’s Row, in the 4200 block of Washington Avenue West.
After receiving multiple reports of smoke and flames coming from a large residential structure in the area, SFD crews arrived to find a duplex engulfed in flames, with fire inside all three levels of the home, and spreading to the outside of the southern unit. That exterior fire was put out, as firefighters began entering the structure to ensure it was unoccupied.
While crews conducted that search, structural hazards from the fire and worsening conditions forced firefighters to leave the building, and begin a defensive strategy from the outside to put out the flames.
In all, approximately 90 firefighters responded to the two-alarm blaze.
One worker suffered minor burns and was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment.
In a blog post, Gary Blakeslee of RISE Properties Trust — the Vancouver, B.C.-based private real estate investment fund that is renovating the homes at Fort Lawton — wrote that the company will work in the coming weeks alongside its construction team to determine a schedule to rebuild the home.
“Our team of talented crafts and construction workers had spent months restoring the home and we’re committed to bringing it back to full enjoyment, as part of the collection of legacy homes at Fort Lawton,” he wrote.
Blakeslee also noted that no other homes were damaged in the fire, and that the other residences being renovated would be finished by the end of the year.
According to RISE Properties Trust, the Fort Lawton property consists of 26 historical residences, and each of the two-to-six bedroom options are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The company paid $9.5 million last year for the homes.