SEATTLE — Firefighters rushed to put out house fire near Northeast 137th Street and 30th Avenue Northeast just before 8 a.m. Thursday.
But a fire hydrant failed and created a big mess down the road.
Residents at the Chameleon Apartments in North Seattle woke up to a new swimming pool in the parking lot.
Seattle Public Utilities workers spent all morning pumping out water and debris.
The apartment building’s owner says the last time they saw this was a decade ago when thawing snow and heavy rains created a mess.
"Being through that experience scared me to death so we're glad that everybody, the city of Seattle coming in here try to help out," said owner Lani Cochran.
The biggest damage to the complex was in the lower-level parking lot.
Cochran fears many of her residents will get home from the holidays only to find waterlogged vehicles.
All that water came from an electrical house fire up the road.
Seattle firefighters arrived as flames shot out of the roof.
Firefighters hooked up to the main fire hydrant used to fight the blaze. They then hooked up to the secondary hydrant.
"Our firefighters connected our hose line to it, they were opening the hydrant and it failed so and it starting shooting water in the air," said Kyle Moore, public information officer for the Seattle Fire Department.
The gushing water then rushed downhill toward the apartment complex and other homes.
"This was so forceful, that it just dug, this was all flat, this was all street and it just dug a trench," said eyewitness Jim Hoder.
Right in its path: Saul Soto’s house. He says his home is constantly being flooded.
"The city doesn't get here quick enough. And every time it rains that creek floods and part of my home floods," he said.
Seattle Fire says the city inspects every fire hydrant in the city yearly.
But the city doesn’t inspect them during the winter months because of the freezing temperatures.
It’s not known yet if and when the fire hydrant that failed was last checked.
KIRO
