BOTHELL, Wash. — Friday's three-alarm fire has been catastrophic to downtown Bothell, leveling the old Mercantile building that was under construction, the Bothell Mall across the street and every business in it.
"It was a village that helped put out this fire," said Bothell Fire Chief Bob Van Horne.
A village of firefighters from around the region all responded to the fire as it raced through everything that stood.
"And it went across, 30, 40, 50 feet of roadway," Van Horne said.
"Obviously the fire just jumped across the street due to the intense heat and other things falling from the sky, that lit up the roof and other things above," said Doug Owings, co-owner of Sundance Energy.
It burned Owings' heating and air conditioning business across from the Mercantile building.
"We think it's probably a total loss," Owings said.
His neighbor, owner of Zulu's Board Game Cafe, thought he smelled something as he closed up shop at about 2:35 Friday morning.
"Just a really bad classic burning smell," said Matt Zarenva. "To the point where I just U-turned it and went right back in my building, checked the entire building and went back inside. It was really, really bad."
Minutes later, he could see the flames erupting from his surveillance cameras. He rushed back and grabbed a hose, trying to save his own building from the flames.
"It went from flickering to an entire inferno in two minutes," said Zarenva.
He says he could not figure out where the smell was coming from; neither could a Bothell police officer he followed out of town on his way home to Mill Creek.
The fire chief says it could be several days, even weeks before they have a cause, as the building must cool down enough for fire investigators to get inside.
Cox Media Group
