The Seattle Fire Department responded to a house fire in the Crown Hill neighborhood around 3 a.m. Monday.
Firefighters responded to the 9000 block of 12th Avenue Northwest for the report of smoke coming from a house. When crews arrived, fire was seen coming from the roof of a house. Thankfully no one was home at the time.
One firefighter did fall during the response, but he was evaluated and released at the scene. Given the cold and windy morning, the crews were pleased that it didn’t get any worse.
“The firefighters did an excellent job,” Seattle Fire’s Sue Stangl said. “They were able to concentrate to make sure that this did not spread to neighboring houses.”
Neighbors say the owners have been in the neighborhood for many years. The owner’s husband recently passed away, and she had lived in the house with her adult son. But because of ongoing construction, they were not home at the time of the fire.
“Virgie’s one of our original people in this neighborhood,” Neighbor Susan Harper said. “We moved here in 2002. They know all the trees and have seen them grow. She’s 92, and her husband passed just this past year.”
“I’m going to miss having Virgie in the neighborhood,” neighbor David Roman said. “She was, you’re talking about a 92-year-old lady who would come out and clean up the street every time it was windy because there were too many pine cones on the road and she wanted to make sure the neighborhood was as beautiful as she could make it.”
At this point, fire investigators say they are unsure what may have started the fire.
