Crews battle 2-alarm fire in Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood

SEATTLE — Crews battled a two-alarm fire at a vacant building in Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood Wednesday morning.

Calls about the fire at Northeast 135th Street and Lake City Way Northeast came in just before 4:45 a.m. on Wednesday.

Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the building, according to Seattle Fire Department spokesman David Cuerpo.

At 5:11 a.m., Seattle Fire said it had upgraded its response to two alarms to request additional resources.

Crews poured water on the fire at a safe distance from the building because the floors inside may be unstable.

No injuries were reported, but firefighters were unable to immediately search the building because of high heat and smoke.

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Lake City vacant building fire Calls about the fire at Northeast 135th Street and Lake City Way Northeast came in just before 4:45 a.m. on Wednesday. (KIRO 7 News)

Cuerpo said the fire happened at what used to be a residential building that hasn’t been occupied in years. He asked business owners to call 911 if they see anything suspicious and said people should secure doors and garbage bins as a precaution.

Crews have been called to fires at the building before, but never for one this large. Cuerpo said the last fire there was on Jun. 25, 2022.

“Probably the third time we’ve seen this building go up. A lot of homeless (have) been in this building,” said Duane DeLavallade, who works across the street.

This year, Seattle firefighters have responded to three other significant fires in the Lake City neighborhood.

Just two months ago, a vacant building a block away collapsed from a fire.

“We’ve seen the city out here the last couple of weeks to check out the buildings, make sure nobody is in them. We have hired security to watch the building throughout the day, they do a roam of the lot all day long. They just need to tear some of the buildings down,” said DeLavallade.

By around 6 a.m., the fire was under control, but remained at the scene to watch for possible flare-ups.

There were three ladder trucks, five fire trucks and about 50 firefighters working to put out the flames.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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