Early Morning Fire - UPDATED

I couldn't say anything earlier (ongoing investigation), but now that it's public - the other part of the bummer of this fire was that the 89 year-old man started the fire and then shot himself. So unfortunately there was no hope of saving him - he was already dead by the time the fire had been reported by a neighbor.

http://www.king5.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=297008

This video link best sums up the scenario and you can even see me (look for my name of the back of my jacket - 36seconds in...) as we headed back in to the building after changing out our air bottles to finish checking for hot spots on the top floor.



My (Mark's) engine company was first-in to a 2 alarm fire this morning on Capitol Hill. We had an intense fire fight - when we arrived (only about 8 blocks from the station), the fire was already blowing 30 feet out the windows on the unit and swirling around with intense heat and fire-created wind. (The picture from the newspaper shows what the fire looked like just before we arrived.)

We attacked the fire on 3 floors of a mostly abandoned building scheduled for demolition. We had to break down 2 doors to get in - one outside the building and one to his apartment unit. The fire started in the apartment of the lone tenant left in the building - a pack-rat apartment with debris piled floor to celing in most of the 2-bedroom unit. Unfortunately the lone tenant appears to have died in the unit.

Here are a few links to the articles online with some good video footage:

http://www.komonews.com/news/33355744.html
http://www.kirotv.com/video/17810170/index.html
http://www.kirotv.com/slideshow/news/17810052/detail.html
http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=296980
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_102708WAB_apartment_building_fire_LJ.15342bf1a.html