One Queen Anne resident’s car was destroyed Sunday morning after it was engulfed in flames in an incident SPD says was caused by a nearby arson.
The Seattle Fire Department was called to a home near 10th Ave W and W Blaine Street at approximately 4:12 a.m. on Sunday, August 14 for a reported car fire. One neighbor, woken up from the commotion outside, looked our her window just in time to witness the ordeal.
“We were awoken by a car horn blaring. When we looked outside, our neighbor’s car was up in flames. It was quite terrifying. The entire front end was engulfed by the flames,” Laura told Queen Anne View. “After speaking with the police, they told us that this was arson and they’ve had similar occurrences of someone lighting port-a-potties on fire on purpose. This one in particular, happened to have a car parked in front of it.”
Currently there is no police report for the incident on file. We called the Seattle Police Department to confirm whether or not this event was in fact arson, and if this incident is part of any trend here in Queen Anne, and will update this story as soon as we get more information.
Update 4 p.m.: SPD Detective Jeff Kappel confirms that while the car itself was not the intentional target of the arson, it was damaged when someone set fire to a nearby Porta Potti.
“It was a Porta Potti that was on fire, and it spread to a parked car that was nearby. The Porta Potti was set on fire by unknown means at this time,” Detective Kappel said, adding that it was arson. “Those things don’t get set on fire by themselves,” he said. Arson squad detectives are currently investigating the incident.
Laura says SPD responders told her that the incident was related to other cases of arson that had happened recently near Discovery Park in Magnolia. Detective Kappel could not confirm this information.