TUKWILA, Wash. — Two police officers rescued a man out of a burning home in Tukwila. That man is now a person of interest in what is being called arson.
The house in the 5600 block of S. 150th Street caught fire at 4:45p.m. Police were on scene before fire crews and noticed someone was still inside.
“Bravery on the part of our officers. Risked their lives to go and save somebody,” said Marty Grisham, the public information officer for the Tukwila Fire Department.
Chopper 7 then captured footage of police detaining the man they rescued. Both he and the two officers who got him out of the house were taken to nearby hospitals for smoke inhalation.
The officers were released a few hours later.
Family members said he owns the house and lives with six other relatives there. One of them, his nephew Armen, said his uncle has been severely depressed for a couple of months.
Armen said his uncle stopped going to work, and his employer called police to check on him.
“Two days ago, we called ourselves to the police department, and he said that he is acting violently to himself… something has to be done about this,” Armen said.
He said police took his uncle to the hospital, but he was released shortly after.
Armen said the family has done everything to support him and try to find help, to no avail.
When Armen received a call about the fire, he said, “I almost got a heart attack myself. I was just shocked.”
He believes his grandmother and baby brother were in the house at the time but must have escaped early on.
The fire was so intense the neighboring house was also damaged. Armen said all the family’s belongings are now burned or under water.
“I really don’t know what I’m going to do next…I’m basically lost right now,” he said.
The family has created this GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/Tukwila_House-fire