One person was killed and three others were hurt after a fire tore through a vacant apartment complex in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood early Tuesday.
Seattle Fire Department crews responded to a fire inside the building near Roosevelt Way Northeast and Northeast 63rd Street shortly before 4 a.m., the department posted on X.
Firefighters raised ladders and rescued one person by carrying them out of a fourth-floor window. They also escorted two others down a stairway, and another escaped on their own.
A woman died at the scene, and a seriously injured man was taken to Harborview Medical Center. Another man and a woman had minor injuries, department spokesperson David Cuerpo said.
The fire department is investigating what caused the blaze, which crews had under control shortly before 6 a.m., Cuerpo said.
This is the second time the building has caught fire within a month.
On May 8, people were displaced from 26 units after a fire — which was contained to one apartment — damaged the building’s water pipes. Investigators determined it was accidental and likely caused by faulty electrical or overheated battery chargers. No one was hurt in that incident.
Emergency crews responded to 130 fires in vacant buildings in Seattle last year, up from 91 the previous year and 77 the year before that.
Mayor Bruce Harrell introduced a bill in April that would empower the city’s fire chief to potentially demolish vacant buildings deemed dangerous and derelict. Property owners would pay the cost.
The Seattle City Council was set to vote on an amended version of the law Tuesday afternoon.
Material from The Seattle Times archives was used in this story.