KENT, Wash. — A raging two-alarm fire at an apartment building in Kent has displaced about a dozen tenants and gutted at least one unit.
Firefighters said the first alarm at the Summerwalk Villa Apartments on Benson Road at Southeast 224th Street came in around 2:30 a.m. Thursday. The first crews were still on the way when they radioed in that the fire was putting out a towering column of smoke and flame.
When they arrived, it became clear that a lot of firefighters would be needed, so they quickly called the second alarm.
The fire seems to have started in the area of a shed that had been recently added to one end of the buildings. It burned up the side of the building, gutting an end apartment, and then spread into the attic spaces.
From there, it started to spread sideways, affecting more apartment units. Firefighters cut a two-foot-wide trench the width of the building to let out the smoke and heat and stop the spread.
Firefighters say everyone got out uninjured, but some of the damage is severe.
Abdul Abdulkarem lives in the apartment that suffered the worst damage.
"I don't know what we're going to do. We don't have insurance,” said Abdulkarem.
Abdulkarem said his sister heard a commotion outside and looked out to see the fire. As the family was escaping, they told KIRO 7 they knocked on other tenants' doors to get out.
A KIRO 7 crew asked the fire marshal whether the fire was suspicious, but he said there was no reason to think so at this point.
Investigators may have a cause for the fire as soon as later Thursday. They said the building is old enough that attic fire stops would probably not be required by law, which may account for the sideways spread. They also said they did not know whether the building had working smoke detectors. They're looking into that as well.
KIRO
