Formerly dubbed ‘cancer house,’ Seattle’s Fire Station 31 to be rebuilt at new site

SEATTLE — Seattle city leaders broke ground on Monday at the site of Fire Station 31, after the old station was evacuated nearly five years ago over health concerns.

The city relocated crews at the old Fire Station 31 building in October of 2019, when it determined that “it no longer met SFD’s operational needs” after mold was discovered inside.

For decades leading up to that, the station has become infamous for concerns over increased cancer rates and other illnesses from firefighters who worked there, known by many within the department as “cancer house.”

In 2004, a study about cancer rates for firefighters who worked at Station 31 found of the 1,622 people who worked there between 1975 and 2003, 119 suffered from some type of cancer, the most common being prostate cancer or melanoma. Even so, the study found no direct link between the cancer cases and the building.

More firefighters continued to get sick in the years that followed, leading to SFD commissioning another study with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Before that study was completed, the decision was made to close down the station and reassign its firefighters to other houses.

Now, Station 31 will be reborn at a new site, marked by Monday’s groundbreaking. The new three-story station will be finished around late 2025, housing a fire engine, ladder truck, medic unit, aid unit, and additional space for a Health One unit.

“The new site is designed to meet the growing operational needs of Seattle Fire and the response times of the growing North Seattle community,” SFD said.

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