Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean says investigators have determined Saturday’s deadly fire in Fremont was caused by a foam mattress in a downstairs closet that was leaning against a light bulb. Dean says the fire was ruled accidental.
According to Dean, Helen Gebregiorgis was asleep on the couch downstairs when one of the children smelled smoke and woke her up. The smoke alarm went off soon after that, and Helen opened the doors and windows to try and clear the smoke.
“The foam mattress fueled the fire, the oxygen from the open doors and windows fed the fire and made it grow quite fast,” Chief Dean said in a press conference this afternoon.
When Helen went upstairs to open the windows, she heard an explosion downstairs, grabbed her niece, and ran out of the house.
The five other members of the family, who did not make it out alive, were in a windowless bathroom on the second floor. When crews arrived on scene they could not put a ladder to the second floor because the fire was already too involved. Firefighters went into the apartment next door in hopes of breaking through the wall, but couldn’t due to flames.
Chief Dean says his department is still devastated by the outcome. A safety investigation into the fire engine that malfunctioned is expected to be completed late next week. Chief Dean also urged everyone to make sure they get out of their home immediately when a fire alarm goes off.
“Hopefully the lessons learned will not only make us a better department but a better community,” Dean said.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Tom Sparks // Jun 16, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Full egress windows and escape routes from the second floor in all Seattle Housing Authority units please!
From the SHA Website:
These people depend on the City for safe housing. Lets not let them down.
2 Anonymouse // Jun 17, 2010 at 12:23 am
Are you serious, Tom? That’s not required of regular residences, why should it be required of SHA residences? And what about the 3rd floor, or the 14th floor? This sort of thing is going to happen sometimes, and it has nothing to do with this being a SHA property. If anything, SHA residences are probably some of the best places to be in a fire: I’d bet a far greater percentage of SHA properties have working smoke detectors (and more of them) than average private residences.
Oh, yeah, and then there’s that pesky bit about how on earth you’d pay for retrofitting every SHA property.
3 Tamarinbean // Jun 17, 2010 at 10:45 am
This is such a tragic accident. My thoughts go out to everyone involved. There’s no point in second-guessing a survivor’s actions, but it does remind us what NOT to do. God forbid I’m ever in a similar situation, but hopefully I’ll make the right decisions, and fast.
4 Rachel // Jun 17, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I just wonder why the mattress caught on fire so quickly, when all mattresses must have a fire barrier to prevent them from doing exactly what happened in this apartment.
5 JBH // Jun 17, 2010 at 8:07 pm
It says “foam mattress,” which to me sounds like an egg crate or similar-type thing. Could be wrong, but I have one in my closet which I double-checked to ensure it was touching nothing electrical.
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