Four fires set at Ballard homeless camps

SEATTLE — Several small fires in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood overnight are being investigated as arson.

A man was arrested at the scene of one of the fires for an unrelated crime.

All of the four fires were set in homeless camps in a six-block area along the Burke Gilman Trail between Northwest 36th Street and Northwest 42nd Street. They were set between 11 p.m. and midnight Monday.

One fire burned a pile of items that a homeless man had been collecting for the past few months.

The man told KIRO 7 he was out picking blackberries overnight, and when he came back, his items had been set on fire.

He said he and another man fix bikes and collect things they might need to make life more comfortable on the street.

Other items burned included a mattress, trees and shrubs, plywood and debris.

Firefighters contacted Seattle police to let them know the fires were arson.

When officers arrived at one fire at Northwest Seventh Street and 42nd Avenue Northwest, they saw a man who was carrying a pair of nunchaku, also known as nunchucks, running from the scene.

Officers spoke with the man and found he was also carrying a lighter, though investigators don't yet know whether the man started the fires.

Police arrested the man for investigation of possession of a dangerous weapon and booked him into the King County Jail.

While interviewing witnesses at the scene, officers received information about an earlier argument at a camp involving a man who brandished a lighter. Detectives are still working to gather information about the case.

No one was hurt.

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