SEATTLE — Residents who were evacuated from apartment building in Seattle's North Beacon Hill neighborhood over the weekend were allowed to return home after it was deemed safe by inspectors.
Bricks fell off the west side of the building, causing concern over a risk of a possible collapse. However, the damage was determined to be non-structural and cosmetic in nature, according to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections.
Seattle Fire evacuated the building, located in the 2500 block of 15th Avenue South, Saturday night.
A structural engineer from the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections was called in to evaluate the building.
Photos shared by SFD show piles of bricks that appear to have fallen off the building from an upper part of the structure near the roof.
SFD called the evacuations a “precaution.” King County Metro provided a bus to provide warm shelter to those residents.
Shortly after 5:10 p.m., SFD said it would close access to the building overnight out of precaution.
Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections visited the site Sunday morning to perform a general assessment. The building was "yellow-tagged" with limited entry.
The building owner was instructed to work with an engineer to further investigate and determine the extent and cause of the damage and make repairs.
