SEATTLE — The Seattle Fire Department responded to a fire at a condo building in the Northgate neighborhood Sunday morning.
SFD said smoke was found in the attic of the building in the 10500 block of 8th Avenue Northeast.
Crews were able to put out the flames in 20 minutes, but still upgraded the fire to a full response. The department said there were several obstacles that made the fire difficult to access.
“The first obstacle was that the [condo] building itself was several hundred feet away from the main street, where hydrants are located,” said David Cuerpo, a spokesperson for the Seattle Fire Department.
The department had to assemble several hundred feet of hose to reach the building.
The second challenge was cars. Some cars were trying to drive over the hoses.
“When you see a bunch of fire engines and trucks along with hose line in the middle of the road, that means do not enter,” said Cuerpo.
Other cars parked on the narrow street made it hard for emergency vehicles to access the road.
“We had several cars parked in the corners, others close to hydrants which made it very difficult for a full response,” said Cuerpo.
Neighbors say, as a result of development, the number of people parking on the street has skyrocketed. They say they’ve reached out to the city with their concerns about the road getting too narrow.
“Now it becomes an issue. That’s our whole thing. This is a safety issue,” said Noah Nowak, who lives down the street from the condo building.
“When you deliberately park abreast from the corner and into the actual street, then it makes it difficult not only for fire trucks and engines, but for medical responses, as well,” said Cuerpo.
SFD said no one was injured on the fire. They believe it may have been caused by natural gas linked to a fireplace.