UPDATE: Fire in downtown White Center guts LumberYard Bar; major damage to neighboring businesses too
2:19 AM: County and city firefighters are working to fight a building fire at 16th and Roxbury. It was originally dispatched as a city callout so we’ve been covering it on our partner site West Seattle Blog here.
(White Center Now/West Seattle Blog photos by Patrick Sand)
2:48 AM: We’ve confirmed the fire is centered in the building holding the Lumberyard Bar and Rat City Tattoo. Firefighters are still working to extinguish it.
4:15 AM: The fire’s not out yet. City and county crews are still there, fighting it from both sides of the building.
No injuries reported; we’ll have more followup information later this morning.
ADDED 10:43 AM: We went back this morning – in the view above, you are looking into the building from the alley side. Fire crews are still there:
We talked to Chief Mike Marrs of Fire District 2, which includes White Center and the rest of North Highline. The investigator finally got into the building a few hours ago to try to determine the cause.
Other businesses to the north were damaged – including broken glass. Firefighters were expected to be on scene, with 16th remaining closed in that block, until noonish. We will check back again.
NOON: A crowdfunding page is set up to accept donations for the LumberYard.
12:54 PM: More photos of the aftermath, inside adjacent businesses too:
We’ll add any other crowdfunding links we find out about. (Added: Here’s one for the Boxing Gym. Here’s one for staff of the affected businesses. Here’s one for Nuggi, a boba-tea shop that was opening soon.)
1:47 PM: Fire District 2 public-information Shauna Sheppard says they do NOT believe this was caused by fireworks. So far they’ve traced the origin to the LumberYard’s basement, and they believe it was accidental, though the specific cause remains under investigation.
ADDED TUESDAY: More crowdfunding – this time for La Tipica Oaxaqueña, and for Dottie’s Doublewide (that page notes it had new owners who were preparing to reopen).
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July 5th, 2021 at 1:44 pm
I’m contacting County Executive Dow Constantine’s office to ask that the county reach out to these business owners with whatever support and programs they have that could be of help, and I’m encouraging everyone to do the same.
E-mail: kcexec@kingcounty.gov
Main phone: 206-263-9600
https://kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/contact.aspx
July 5th, 2021 at 4:55 pm
Very sad and scary. Thank you, WCN.
July 5th, 2021 at 9:02 pm
Hi there, I just created a GoFundMe.
You can help me reach my goal by joining my fundraising team. As a team member you can spread the word, post updates and more.
You can see and join the fundraiser here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-damage-to-dotties-double-wide?teamInvite=032mnWzDf9lF3thgPA0kaLX5LONEZoivdueQCTJdOaBEyYpQB3UL4qhlPbMELiwo
July 6th, 2021 at 11:40 am
Thanks, we’ve also learned of one for La Tipica Oaxaqueña. Adding both above.
July 7th, 2021 at 10:41 am
FYI—White Center, South of Roxbury (except for Holy
Family), is in KC Fire District No. 11 and is known as
North Highline Fire District. White Center isn’t in
KC Fire District No. 2.
Chief Marrs has been tasked with commanding both districts.
[I hope he is getting double pay!]
Emergency Dispatchers almost always think White Center
is a part of The City of Seattle (maybe someday).
July 7th, 2021 at 4:26 pm
We’ve reported numerous times on the merged management, and I know the NHFD name, sorry for the wrong number.