Seattle Fire investigators say four fires around the Greenwood in the last two months — three in the last week — are the work of one or more arsonists.
The most serious fire, yesterday on 84th St., sent a man to the hospital with burn injuries. Seattle Police is investigating, and they have no suspects. Residents are encouraged to report suspicious activity to the Arson Alarm Hotline at 1-800-55-ARSON. Seattle Fire is also urging residents to clear anything around their homes that could help fuel a fire. You can download a flyer here (.pdf) with tips from the fire department.
PhinneyWood has complete coverage and photos of previous fires.
Holy moly! I hope they catch this psycho before someone gets killed.
Keep your hoses screwed into the taps Greenwood you have nutjob out there!
Watch the crowds that gather. He might be one of those that gets a thrill out of watching firemen risk their lives.
Good point JACS, that is often the case.
Wasn't there a whole rash of arson fires a few years ago around Greenwood too? I recall that the condos that were being built on Phinney around 60th were burned.
If someone got arrested for those and just got out on parole, I'd think the fire dept and police should pay them a visit.
An officer from the SFD just came around distributing flyers; I told him that I just read the news here on PhinneyWood :-) . He mentioned that houses / buildings with alleys seem to be particular targets so far. Be careful, folks!
I don't remember Greenwood, but I do remember the Ballard arsons a number of years back. At one point a garage directly the next alley over was set on fire and to hear the fire engines yet again was scary. I remember they sent an army helicopter over the area for almost a hour, taking pictures, etc. Does anyone remember how that all resolved?
Anyway, someone's been burned, it's really horrible and I hope they find the person, soon. It seems like it's escalating.
It's snarky anarchy. The area is plagued with young guys tagging and making mischief that others have to clean up. When a new business opens, within a short time, the windows are all scratched up by the young idiots. They have no respect for private property or people trying to improve the community. It’s destruction mania.
Paul Keller….He's serving 90 years to life in prison. The guy was a fire engine nut job. He was in to light bars and siren models that were installed on emergency vehicles.
Related article: http://fireline.seattle.gov/2009/08/14/arson-in…
No, Paul Keller was in the early 90's, that was fairly long ago, and set fire to an elder care home as one of his. The rash of arsons I'm thinking of happened around east ballard, I'm thinking in the early 2000s, and involved mostly garages accessible by alleys.
Paul Keller's arsons killed people – I'm not likely to forget him!
I remember the Paul Keiler series of arsons; he torched a church in Lake City. Most of his fires were of houses that had fireweed stacks and/or that wavy fiberglass roof on sheds…because it burned.
I hope they catch whoever is doing this!
sad :( people are getting hurt because of this lunatic
We live next door to the house pictured above. We are in disbelief that this has happened in our neighborhood to our friends. We've posted information on the Phinneywood blog on how to contact us with donations for the family. It was brought to our attention that Ballard is also full of generous people who also might like to help this family rebuild their life. We've had donations from as far away as Aberdeen and it has amazing to witness the generosity of people in this community. For questions and information on how you can help feel free to contact us at christielucarelli@yahoo.com.
Thank you!
Christie & Jeremiah
Christie & Jeremiah – Thank you so much for taking care of your neighbors! You are awesome. I'm going over to Phinneywood right now to find out how to help.
Hopefully, one of the taggers needs the $10,000 and will rat on an associate.
I'm fairly new to the area and have heard about the tagging issue. At 0510 this morning I confronted 4 men, looked to be 20-25, had the grunge/ hipster look going on, and they were tagging the Ballard Blocks building, right behind Mike's Tavern. I asked what the f&*( they thought they were doing. Reply from one was “We're painting some cool sh#$ duuuuuuude”. They really seemed oblivious that it was destructive and illegal. I had the gym front desk attendant call the police but I don't think anybody actually came out and investigated. Point is it doesn't seem to have much priority with local law enforcement, and the people doing it weren't teens, they were full grown men.
Ya, the taggers think they are doing something important, but most people can't stand to have it on their private property. It's such a waste of time and energy. I have to laugh at their feeble efforts. Ha!
Got a camera in your phone?
Use it.
I'll bet they take off running!
(Don't try it if you don't feel safe doing it!)
Sal and his family hope to find a house to rent by the end of the week and when they do we have a living room full of items donated by all of you to deliver to them! It’s been wonderufl to meet everyone. The Granillo family is touched by your generosity as are we!! Thank you.
Christie and Jeremiah :)