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Flames could be seen for miles tonight as two of four building at our brand new Harrington Square Apartments burned to the ground in Renton Highlands.
The complex of 5 story buildings caught fire in a dramatic fashion, in what many witnesses described as a loud explosion, or series of explosions. Some nearby property owners are even reporting cracked windows, possibly from the explosion.
Fire departments throughout the region sent support, to assist Renton firefighters as they battled to knock down the flames and keep them from spreading to nearby homes and businesses. Fire personnel were present from Kirkland, Woodinville, Eastside Fire and Rescue, Fire District 40, Bellevue, Seattle, Kent, Tukwila, Burien, and Skyway, and likely many others.
Fortunately, it looks at this point like no one was seriously hurt by the fire. Since the apartments units were under construction, they were unoccupied when they ignited. [INJURY UPDATE: See my next entry, an email from the mayor, for information regarding the injury of a police officer who was hit by a drunk driver while directing traffic at the scene]
Ironically, and very fortunately, the Harrington Square project had been delayed for over a year as we upgraded water mains in Sunset Ave NE specifically to equip this part of the city with the capacity needed to extinguish a fire in these buildings, on the prescient advice of our fire department. We completed our 1.5 million dollar water main work last year, and construction on Harrington Square began shortly afterward.
This apartment complex was built on the site of an aging strip mall, and is intended to jump start the Renton Highlands redevelopment effort.
While the two buildings affected are a total loss, I am hopeful the project will have insurance that can keep it moving forward. This is of course a huge setback in any case.
I am thankful to all the fire fighters toiling tonight to contain the damage. They have really had to work hard this month to keep the city from burning down.
Here is a link to the architects summary of the Harrington Square project.
Here are some pictures I took at the scene:
WOW! I like that our Emergency Services are Grade A….but do they need to be tested all the time? We were 1/2 block away and could hear and feel the fire. Very scary!!!
I was at neighbors when we saw the plume of smoke and thought it was just a few blocks away. Boy were we wrong we were on Benson Hill (next hill south) and could see the flames from there.
I was one of many look-ie-loos and see several trucks spraying water on houses and yard to the south of the fire to save them from the fire jumping the street.
Glad to have such a great fire department and help for them when needed.
Sorry to hear about the injured police officer (report by Denis Law).
I’ll be curious of the outcome of the investigation, whether it’s arson or an accident. Looking at the decline in construction and money problems with companies, low occupancy, etc. You don’t just light a match to touch off a place like this. It takes a gas leak or something else. A long burning illegal firework could do it. Materials are fairly resistant nowadays. I hope it was an accident, but I’m skeptical. TCC
It looks like there were roofers who were putting in a flat tar roof – that makes sense as the tar is quite flammable while it out-gases.
wow. nice set of pics
I saw the smoke drifting in my general direction last night – wondered where it was coming from.
thanks for the pics.