SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council unanimously passed a new emergency ordinance intended to fast track the process for abating or demolishing dangerous vacant buildings. This comes on the same day that fire crews responded to two vacant building fires that included on fatality.
“We need to pass this legislation to create the safety for our firefighters for our neighbors and also as apart of attempts to basically address the permissive environment that undermines our public safety challenges,” said Seattle councilmember Robert Kettle during Tuesday afternoon’s regularly scheduled council meeting.
Hours after a fatal fire, the Seattle Council unanimously passed emergency legislation granting more powers to the fire chief to remedy dangerous buildings.
Fire crews responded to a building on fire at Roosevelt Way Northeast and Northeast 63rd Street just before 4 a.m. The building formerly had apartments, but was supposed to be vacant. One woman died at the scene and three other people were injured.
“Before we were able send a notice of violation and that’s a violation to abate the hazards – will this puts the period on the sentence that if you don’t then we can. I hope that’s clear enough,” said Seattle Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins after the ordinance passed.
Also addressed in the legislation how these efforts will be funded. Now the fire chief can order a lien on the title of the home to reimburse the taxpayer for fees associated with abatement or even demolition. Demolition would require approval from the mayor’s office.
“We want to work with the property owners through education and offering up our resources to give them advice on how to solve some of these problems but sometimes buildings need to be abated,” Scoggins said.
By the city’s own accounting there are 40 vacant buildings in the city of Seattle that could be impacted by this legislation.
Vacant building fires in Seattle have been on the rise over the last few years. There were 77 vacant building fires in 2021, 91 in 2022, and 130 in 2023. There were 30 vacant building fires in 2024 as of April 15, according to city data in a release. Vacant building fires require a large number of resources from the Seattle Fire Department and put firefighters' lives at risk, according to Fire Chief Harold Scoggins. Three people died in vacant building fires in 2023.