Firefighters with Puget Sound Fire and King County Fire District responded to a fire at a home in Burien around 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
Officials say this was a problematic fire for crews because of the location of the house, which is crammed in the corner of a cul-de-sac at the end of 7th Place Southwest off Southwest 122nd Street.
Nate Strening, who lives across the street, says his wife saw the flames and called for help.
“She’s telling 911, ‘You need to send somebody here to put out these fires.’ All I can think in my mind is oh they did it. They actually did it. The house is getting consumed in flames. It’s an inferno,” said Strening.
Jim Reed, Battalion Chief with King County Fire District 2, says eight people live in the house, and everyone got out safely.
“The trees burst into flames, there was probably flames going up 100 feet in the air,” said Strening.
Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire, but Strening says he’s not surprised by this.
“This has been about a decade problem, and it just seems like the city has just waited and waited until the property is now a complete and total loss,” said Strening.
The city of Burien tells KIRO 7 code enforcement has been called to the property multiple times, and they’ve done several clean-ups there.
“It’s not unusual to walk out in the morning and see a lot of fire trucks or aid cars,” said Alex Sandoval, who lives down the street.
Back in October, the city issued a notice that the property was uninhabitable.
The American Red Cross is now assisting those eight people.
©2023 Cox Media Group
