White Center Now: The blog about White Center

(Added: Video by Rob Jacobs, just before firefighters arrived)

8:45 AM: Thanks for the tips. There’s a big fire in White Center – the fire-response log says it’s a commercial fire near 17th SW and SW 98th [map]. Homes are being evacuated west of there. We’re on our way to find out more; avoid that area.

8:55 AM: We’re on scene. This is the long-vacant commercial building between the Gerber auto shop and dental office.

9:10 AM: No reports of injuries so far.

9:21 AM: We talked to firefighters at the scene, Most of this is “knocked down” but there’s one hot spot in debris inside the building that’s still smoldering, so that’s where their attention is now. They confirm no one is hurt. Meantime, checking property records, the exact address for the building is 9811 17th SW.

9:39 AM: The building’s past incarnations include Atlas Electric and the White Center News newspaper; it was listed for sale last year and sold early this year.

10:05 AM: Thanks to the readers who note this building also caught fire two years ago; we covered that here – the 2019 fire was ruled arson, We’ll be checking back at today’s scene in a bit.

11 AM: Just back from there. Still smoldering; streets still blocked. The Gerber auto shop next door is closed while they assess potential damage, as the north end of their building is adjacent to the one that burned.

ADDED WEDNESDAY EVENING: We went back late in the day – the building’s now largely just charred debris:

No word on the cause yet; we’ll check again tomorrow.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.