Updated: Fire investigators spent the morning sifting through the aftermath of a fire in a camper parked along 9th Ave. near NW 45th St., near Fred Meyer.
Firefighters were called at 7:30 Sunday morning, and they discovered light smoke coming from one of the campers parked along the street. They rescued a man inside, and medics transported him to Harborview for treatment for smoke inhalation and second-degree burns on his legs.
A fire marshal was called to the scene to investigate whether the fire was intentionally set — by the occupant or someone else — or if it was an accident. (Thanks Silver for the tip!)
Man burned in camper fire
Rumor is that it was a mobile meth lab.
He was foolish to start his camper on fire.
I think if it was a mobile meth lab it would've actually blown up.
Not necessarily. Lots of flammable materials, sometimes just fire and not a full on explosion.
If meth lab there would have been haz-mat folks there.
Spreading some rumor that it was a meth lab is pointless, especially considering that you don't seem to have any evidence to back up your point. Baseless rumors are exactly the sort of thing a site like this doesn't need.
Absolutely.
I don't think he set anything on fire at all. Marshall 5 is still there, according to the 911 Real-Time website. We'll have to wait and see.
When fire units first arrived they thought they were seeing “light steam” coming from the camper. A minute later they called dispatch back asking for the call to be upgraded to a “Med 7 Response” because they had found an unconscious victim inside who had burns to his legs.
ok i'll say it again – these mobile slums are not what any neighborhood needs. everyone knows where these slum-trucks park; look at that photo – what an eyesore. its pretty amazing that this is allowed to continue all around ballard.
What would you rather they'll do? Sleep in the park?
We really can't have a story involving homeless people without this debate coming up, can we. If you lost your home and were out on the streets you'd have a different view, these people aren't doing anything to you, they're just trying to get by in life like everyone else, try showing some respect.
We need to get all of the hobos out of Ballard!
Fires like this definitely help. Hopefully this camper gets impounded, and the loser won't be able to pay the fees once he is released from harborview.
You should hope that some day you don't find yourself or a loved one suddenly ill with huge medical bills, and/or the loss of your job and the loss of your home through a string of bad luck and you end up in such a position one day. Let's see where your karma gets you then.
You wrongly assume that every person without a brick-and-mortar house is some loser, drug-addled degenerate, which says more about you than anything else.
come on man, many many many of these things are packed with garbage, and the areas where there is heavy “traffic” of these vehicles are littered with trash and who knows what else. not much respect for the neighborhood there.
i didn't say i had a solution, but i can still think that the city shouldn't allow entire blocks to be taken over by these mobile slums.
I have. Thankfully I worked all my life and qualify for enough social security disability to live off of.
These degenerates are able bodied and need to work. If any of them are truly disabled they must be blowing their entire check on crack.
You act as if jobs are being handed out by the truckload, even in these recessionary days. What an easy statement to make by someone who's not in the workforce.
These days it's not uncommon for even the most ambitious and able bodied people to be out of work long enough to lose homes and apartments.
Get your head out of the sand.
You can have your opinion, but don't make a blanket statement that everyone living in a camper who is homeless is just some sort of trash collector. In fact the area where these vehicles are parked is pretty clean, especially considering that its an industrial area.
i agree. i live very near these “mobile slums” and it is atotal mess – they leave trash all over our sidewalks, yell and scream at each other (i have to call the cops too many times for domestic abuse on these guys) and make it unsafe for me and my child to walk around our OWN neighborhood where we pay nice taxes to live.
King County Jail
Maybe taxpayer money will be better spent solving the problem of homelessness in Seattle rather than giving them free accommodation at jail.
“You wrongly assume that every person without a brick-and-mortar house is some loser, drug-addled degenerate.”
msballard30, please provide an example.
acass-
you're making the blanketed statement of just the opposite. you're entitled to your opinion just as much as any other blogger. you have no more right to one than the next person.
I often wonder if people living in their vehicles or mobile homes are sex offender's that don't register and see some crazy actions coming out of people getting out of them. It's too bad seattle doesn't have a place where they can park and pay a small fee like say rent to park there and be monitored by the city. Just a thought. I wonder why the city does nothing about these vehicles parked when it seems the rest of us get tickets at the drop of a hat. Oh and has anyone noticed the mobile homes parked right across from kmart on 100th and aurora? Everytime I drive by those, they seem to be parked right on aurora with the city doing nothing about them and I wonder if it's a meth lab. I seen some people come out of them twitching around like they were on drugs and acting really strange and yelling at each other. If you call up parking enforcement, the ladies on that line get soooo smart and don't seem to do anything. I know it's not ballard but just wondered why seattle isn't doing anything about that type of loitering. Sheesh someone with a record could pull someone into one of those vehicles, say a jogger or walker or someone walking with their kids and nobody would even know they're in trouble.
Ha, I wonder if they offer “MyBallard discounts”
Seriously? What's wrong with you? Are you 12? You appear to have one of the more apt handles on a forum I've ever seen.
Haven't you been enough of a jizzball yet? The poor guy probably passed out with a cigarette, yet from the very first post your assumptions have gone from ridiculous to inflammatory, and now, offending my neighbors with your insensitive crap! You are one miserable SOB, which IS just, but keep your sick crap to yourself! I dare you to wear a jizzball nametag…just once…
I would say they don't bother them unless they have to because there's not enough money to support them to do so. They give the camper owner a ticket… they obviously don't have much money, what are the odds they'll pay it? Enough tickets, they have to impound it. Now the police has to store a vehicle ($$), file reports ($$), issue tickets ($$), set a possible court date ($$), all with the small likelyhood of getting any money out of it. They aren't able to keep up with the real victim based crimes, trying to fine people who don't have money or anywhere else do go is a no win battle.
Now we also have someone who had some sort of residence out on the streets and much worse off. Perhaps they had some kind of job before, or a way to make money, now that's all been taken away and is sitting in an impound yard. If you had no resources, no family or friends to depend on, and were suddenly homeless and without all your possessions, how would you cope? How is that a win for anybody?
I am NOT a fan of the ad-hoc camper parks, but I'd rather they be in an industrial area than a neighborhood. Lesser of the evils right now perhaps?
Why do you want to shove them to the Industrial Area? People work, and yes, some people live in the Industrial area too.
If we don't pick up after their messes ( garbage, poo, black bags, beer cans) that stuff just festers and gets grosser and grosser. We're pretty sick of cleaning it up too.
where did all the jizzball comments go?
I would've liked to hear his/her comments.
Not necessarily wildernessbarbie and her warped sense of reality. Isn't there some sort of trustafarian forum she can engage in instead?
String of bad luck? Please, you have to work really hard to wind up on the streets. Really hard. You have to burn all you bridges with friends, family and, very often, shelters offering help.This can't happen to just anyone; it's the oldest myth in the bum-vocate bible.
Because if the city built a place for them to park, there'd be rules…..and that's what these guys refuse to follow.
“My” Real Change guy who is well known around Ballard, in large part because he is NOT one of the degenerates you perhaps assume is a requisite of homelessness. He's well-known and respected here because he is doing what he can to pull himself up, he works part-time during during events at sporting events, he's sober, clean, he volunteers at local community events, he doesn't leave trash where he lives in his RV (he hates those who do), and is trying to get his life together. He doesn't beg, he doesn't panhandle, he's just struggling to make the best of where he is in his life. And when he had his RV towed last week – his home – he was a wreck trying to get the money together to get it out of impound. What did that mean for him in practical terms? That he had to sleep on the streets with none of his possessions, terrified about the crazies who ARE roaming the streets at night.
Yes, the homeless community is rife with mental and physical illness and less than savory folks. But not everyone is like that. And not everyone who lives in an RV is like that. So there's my example. Glad you asked.
Apparently making just one offensive comment gets all of the rest of your comments removed. It also gets you banned from posting. At least its really easy to change your IP address with comcast.
I don't see how me not being in the workforce would really change my view on the recession. How would my view be different then someone who has a job and hasn't been affected?
Hopefully this asshat gets his camper impounded. Theres no reason that he can't stay in a shelter once he leaves the hospital, unless of course he doesn't want to follow the rules.
Should be interesting to see if this “camper park” is shut down. I've seen them more than once work the gas scam at the 7-11 and then get back in their camper.
You really are just a first-class jerk. Actually, based on the comments of yours that I read earlier before they were pulled, this is perhaps the “nicest” thing you've said all day.
One?
Either you can't count, or you don't understand the meaning of the word.
Ah, so jizzball and his ilk are the ones who've been creating problems for innocent Comcast customers on this site.
I hope the burn victim will be okay, regardless of how it happened.
The motor home is no longer on 9th Avenue NW. The police and fire department were with it until about 11:30am this morning. I think it was impounded.
Interestingly, all of jizzball's outrageous and vile comments are still visible om my mobile, so I was treated to the really nasty personal comments he had directed to me (and others), but had missed. Onederfullone is right – your math skills suck jizzball … or you're a complete liar and think no one knows.
Holy Cow!
I'm not jizzball btw, butj ust moments ago I reading the post about the camper fire. I wanted to add my thoughts about the attitudes posed regarding transient neighbors.
So I clicked in the the text box and… received a prompt stating that I have been banned from posting on this forum. The last post I made here was correcting the author on a grammatical error on the Haiti trip post.
Is this a glitch?
I sorta hope it is and I sorta hope it isn't. If it is, well, then, they happen and I'll continue to chime in on interesting exchanges.
If not, I'll have to take joy in the author's embarrassment and exploit it until he regrets putting a gag on someone who advertised the author's failings.
What a petty person to ban someone for pointing out simple mistakes.
I mean, not even so much as a warning. Is this your +first+ blog?
The rest of you take note- this aint a place where free speech is cherished.
I was just at Trader Joe's. A couple just tried the gas can scam. How East Coast!
Glitch! I got the “banned” message too.
Others have posted as “Name” so it may be a computer glitch. I'd contact the Geeky Swedes to sort this out – you really have to say nasty things to have your comments deleted – and you have to be a complete asshat to get banned.
East Coast gas scam?
Sometimes I wonder how geeky the swedes really are when they can't even figure out how to ban the right person. These idiots should just quit trying if they aren't going to do it right.
FWIW the homeless campers who parked across from my house for 2 weeks were quiet and respectful and gave the area a thorough cleaning up before they moved on. While they were there it was cleaner than when they arrived.
If it was this sort of down and out folks who caught on fire I feel bad for them, not that there aren't plenty of degenerate tools living out of their cars too …
You get a nasty comment after you discount me saying I'm not part of the workforce so I don't know whats up.
I hope the guy is okay. How sad…
The only reason I hope this guy has a quick recovery is so we don't have to pay for his degenerate ass being in the hospital.
Scott? Is that you?
Thank god. Maybe we could hand out defective propane heaters to the rest of them, get rid of em real quick.
Jizzwad, you really are a waste.
It's my understanding that Comcast uses “dynamic” as opposed to “static” IP addresses. So if an owner bans a troll by blocking their IP address, that banned address will be recycled and reassigned to an innocent, unsuspecting user. So THAT person will get the “the site has blocked you from posting new comments”, when the hadn't commented to begin with!
Thus, the troll keeps coming back and posting. Hopefully, there IS a way for the Swedes to figure out how to block such jerks once and for all.
Hopefully this idiot burnt his “third leg” too, leaving him unable to breed.
I do feel really bad that this guy got hurt.
OK…if one were to compare the license plate (public records) of the RV in question and cross reference the registered individual with court records, one may find reckless endangerment and assault (6 times). Check it out.
I also wonder if they had vehicle insurance and health insurance. I wonder how much the police call, the towing, the hospital visit, the emergency vehicles, etc. costs the city and tax payers (assuming no insurance). Just a thought.
Now, now, let's not be too tough on Jizzball. Poor guy was born without a brain or a clue.
I suggest that we all donate some defective propane heaters to the rest of these jackasses. We need to get rid of these asshats.
Hopefully this douchebag's wiener got burnt severely enough to prevent him from breeding.
I think that is a glitch. I got that yesterday on a story I had only made on innocuous comment on.
here is a link to some cell phone video i shot on my run earlier:
http://cli.gs/Ey1SLU
it happened to me too so I think there's a glitch
Noone posts without registering. Noone registers without a valid email and contact info. Only one screen name per registered user. That would be a start. Stopping a banned user who wishes to take advantage of the Comcast's “dynamic” IP addresses is a matter for someone more computer savy than myself.
On a related note, Jizzball's other user names today on Disqus included Realist and either 8BallArd or 8BAllArd, I forget which, but both are gone now. And what's odd is that even after the GS deleted 10 or so of Jizzball's comments, they ALL still appear on the mobile version of this page on my BB.
Bingo.
I am so tired of the bum advocates here. Yes, I suppose that one or two of them may not be sketchy, degenerate scumbags – but the vast majority seem to be. You like them so much, have them come park in your yard and see how noble their struggles are.
With few exceptions, these are undesirables that are only taking advantage of the naivety and bleeding hearts of the clueless squishy-headed fools who enable them.
You misunderstand. I don't want to shove them off anywhere. I simply think that there is more room for them to camp in industrial areas with less negative impact, rather than in residential ones.
For the record, I live, work, and own property in an industrial area. I report the car farmers often, but so far haven't seen a problem with the couple of campers in the area. When I do, I'll report them too. As long as they're parked legally, without problems, I'll live and let live.
“Warped sense of reality?” How so?
You think you can justify those comments?
You are pathetic.
NOTE TO THE GOOD CAR CAMPERS.
Assuming, of course, that they do indeed exist.
If I were one who had no option but live in my car or RV. And wanted to clearly represent myself as no threat to the health and welfare of this community, I would immediately adopt a 'wagon train' posture. I would find all like minded individuals in the same predicament, and only those like minded individuals, and circle the wagons, completely shutting out the nefarious, scum sucking, criminal trolls that do not care how much of a blight they place upon this community.
If, you separate yourselves, keep your ranks ready and able to be defenders of your community, you will be visible to those of us who seek to assist you.
If not, you will likely be lumped in with the rest of the debris, and cleared from this zip code.
Best of luck.
I agree, that would be great.
However, I would venture to guess that many people who find themselves in this situation aren't the best communicators, have a hard time connecting with and trusting others, and have varying degrees of difficulty interacting socially with others. Otherwise, they may not have gotten into the situation they're in. This does not necessarily make them bad people, just that they don't connect in a way that others are comfortable with.
So, while it would be convenient for us if they would sort themselves out this way, it's probably unrealistic to hope that they would do so.
Can you get free WIFI along that street?
No place for them to legally park and live?
University Trailer Park
2200 Northeast 88th Street, Seattle, WA 98115
And yet, they still park outside of our homes and businesses, dumping trash and making our lives miserable.
Lets make Ballard a hub for Bum Storage™. It adds so much color to the community. Besides, I love the smell of burning camper in the morning. It smells like victory.
Call me slow, but what exactly is “the gas can scam”?
its very good Like it or victory or actually sir I think I was normal