Seattle Buddhist Temple burns for second time after police say man barricaded himself inside

SEATTLE — A Seattle Temple is recovering from two fires in just two days.

Forty-two-year-old Waylon Williams is accused of breaking into Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple on Dec. 31st and starting a fire inside the basement just before 11 p.m.

“It felt like all the memories that I had were kind of being torn away,” said Temple Board Member Marissa Wong.

Wong’s been coming to the temple since she was a little girl. It’s a place that she’s dedicated most of her life to. She’s heartbroken that much of it was gone in just an hour.

“I was really shocked because I couldn’t believe what was happening and then it kind of started settling in like oh, this is practically like my second home,” Wong said.

Seattle police say Williams broke into the temple on Sunday, barricaded himself inside, and then started the fire.

The flames not only damaged the entire basement, but scorched records dating back to 1901.

“A lot of those documents weren’t digitized yet. So everything that went up in flames is gone for good. So a lot of the history of our members and the generations of families that have been coming here a lot of those documents have been completely erased,” Wong explained.

Boy Scout Troop 252, sponsored by the church, also lost its camping and backpacking gear to the fire.

They have since created a GoFundMe for new supplies.

Then just two days later, another set of flames sparked back up.

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