Ballard cafe fire potentially caused by severed gas line explosion

SEATTLE — A fire destroyed a neighborhood cafe in Seattle’s Ballard area Thursday morning.

Several neighbors told KIRO 7 they heard a loud explosion before the fire.

“You heard the boom; it sounded like a dumpster full of glass had gotten dumped,” said Aaron Quammem.

The fire broke out just before 7:30 a.m.

Quammem, who lives across the street, said several neighbors, including himself, jumped into action.

“I come outside to that, and everyone else is kind of trying to pitch in, we’ve all got our little fire extinguishers,” said Quammem.

Seattle Fire said crews were able to stop the flames from spreading to other businesses, but unfortunately, the market was severely damaged.

Neighbors are heartbroken and said the cafe has been a staple in the community for years.

“It’s not good for the community. I’m just glad no one got hurt,” said David Wong.

The shop was closed when the fire started, and crews said they didn’t find anyone inside. However, one neighbor tells us he saw someone in there overnight.

“It was about 1:30 in the morning last night, and I heard some noise outside, so I looked out my window and I saw a gentleman walking around back and forth inside the deli,” said Wong.

Thursday afternoon investigators determined the fire was caused by an accidental natural gas explosion, however by Friday afternoon, KIRO 7 had received this statement from Puget Sound Energy:

“Our crews responded yesterday morning, securing the facility and working with Seattle Fire to investigate. The investigation is ongoing, but indications so far are that a commercial range was pulled out for cleaning and that severed a gas line that was left blowing overnight, with the incident occurring around 7:00 a.m. PSE crews shut down gas by 8:19 a.m. No injuries were reported and evacuations were not needed.”

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