The Seattle Fire Department has been distributing arson watch fliers (.pdf) around Uptown after an upsurge in dumpster fires in the neighborhood over the last eight months.
“Six intentionally set fires have occurred in a specific area of Lower Queen Anne since September 2009, and three of them occurred in the month of April,” Fire Department Public Information Officer Dana Vander Houwen told QueenAnneView on Friday.
According to Terrie Johnston at the Seattle Police Department, most of these fires have been set in dumpsters in Lower Queen Anne (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Avenues West, between Mercer and Aloha streets), and were lit using items at the scene.
Although there were no injuries from any of these fires, the Fire Department encourages residents to follow the information on the fliers to find out what they can do to help prevent neighborhood homes and businesses from arson. On the top of the list: securing dumpsters, preventing recycling bins from overflowing, leaving a porch light on and calling 911 to report any suspicious activity.
Early Sunday morning several neighbors wrote in reporting a loud explosion-like noise in the Lower Queen Anne area.
Elizabeth C. wrote, “I heard a loud explosion last night [Saturday] at around 2 am. I live on West Olympic Place near 3rd – it woke me up. I know we had that mini-bomber a month or so ago and that was what I thought it might be (since the last bomb was 2 blocks from us)… It was very loud – and did not sound like a gun shot or fireworks.”
Tiffany S. wrote, “I have been searching the news sites to see if there have been any other reports of an explosion in lower Queen Anne again? May 9th (two months exactly since the last “home made bomb”) around 1:30am my husband and I heard a VERY loud explosion, within a block or two of 3rd and Olympic… It was so loud it shook our windows a bit.”
However Johnston says the rumors of recent “homemade bombs” in the area are inaccurate. “I’ve had several inquiries about “homemade bombs” being used in the dumpsters and want you to know there is no truth to this,” she wrote.
The Seattle Police Arson Bomb Squad is currently handling the criminal investigation. To report a dumpster fire or for more information, call Johnston at SPD Crime Prevention at 206-684-4741.