Fiery kickoff to New Year in Seattle with 2 vacant building fires in as many days

SEATTLE — For the second day in a row, a vacant building has burned in Seattle, this time a house in Northgate near the corner of North 107th Street and Northgate Way in a residential neighborhood.

Sarah Middleton lives across the street and saw all the action early Tuesday morning.

“Popping and car slamming and noises -- we tune them out, even the sirens, they come so constantly…. This was different! This kind of cannon-like pop happened!” said Middleton.

She said the house has been abandoned for some time and she’s not surprised by the fire.

Scott Bennett lives in the same home with Middleton and saw the flames on security cameras at the home.

“That was shocking! because it’s right there!” he said.

For both Bennett and Middleton, the morning alarm was not a phone or bedside clock, but sirens and scenes from their security cameras.

They shared their security cam video with KIRO 7 to show how close the fire was and how it all felt a bit too close.

“You can tell when the tone of the fire truck changes; it’s like a voice and it gets lower and slower and now you know it’s coming to you,” said Middleton.

RAW: Surveillance video of Northgate fire

Bennett also says the property is now a bit of a mystery to them.

“The owners are absentee. We don’t know where the owners are,” he said.

Both Bennett and Middleton say Seattle Fire responded within minutes of them capturing the flames on camera. Crews say the fire started just before 5:30 a.m.

It is the second vacant building fire in as many days, a fiery kickoff to 2024.

Early Monday morning at the corner of Madison Street and Ninth Avenue in Seattle, a four-story vacant apartment building also burned after sitting vacant for a year-and-a-half.

Bennett and Middleton say the house that burned in Northgate had been abandoned since October and that squatters came frequently.

They’re concerned the house could still attract people and don’t want a third day of 2024 to feature more flames at a vacant building.

“We’re so grateful our home was spared and the response was immediate,” said Middleton.

Bennett admits the fire was probably a situation that was going to come up sooner or later.

“Not a surprising end to the house.”

RAW: Northgate traffic camera shows distant fire

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