Construction work may have ignited $11 million Renton apartment fire

RENTON — Construction workers applying roofing material Tuesday to an apartment building under construction in the Renton Highlands might have touched off the spectacular blaze that destroyed the structure, sent up a plume of smoke seen for miles and led to a massive regional firefighting effort, a city spokesman said today.

"They were doing hot torching on the roof yesterday, which is melting the roof material onto the roof," said Renton spokesman Kelley Balcomb-Bartok.

"It's a five-story building, and with the fire starting on the fifth floor, that's a possible cause."

Preliminary damage estimate is $11 million.

Fire investigators were back on scene today at the charred ruins of the Harrington Square apartments at 950 Harrington Ave. N.E., Balcomb-Bartok said.

Contractors' hot-torching activities will "be one area of the investigation," he added. "If they can eliminate that, they'll go on from there looking at other potential causes."

Meanwhile, a police officer injured when he was struck by a car late Tuesday while directing traffic around the fire scene is recovering. The 29-year-old driver who struck him was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and reckless driving, police said.

The fast-moving blaze, which ignited shortly before 8 p.m., quickly consumed the building, sending up a plume of smoke visible as far away as Tacoma. Firefighters were quickly on the scene, but were unable to control the fire. Flames were soon shooting 50 feet or more above the top of the building, which was unoccupied.

About 80 firefighters from as far away as Redmond and Kent eventually arrived to help out. A top priority was to stop the fire from spreading.

The fire's apparent ignition point on the fifth floor made it difficult to fight, Balcomb-Bartok said. Winds of 10 to 15 mph pushed the flames quickly through the building. A small, older commercial building next to the apartment complex was also destroyed. However, a second apartment building, part of the Harrington Square complex, survived the blaze.

About 100 partially completed apartments were destroyed in the fire. As people stood watching the blaze, some also witnessed an accident.

Kathy Sites, a cook at the nearby No Bull Saloon, said she was standing outside when a truck came barreling along Sunset Boulevard Northeast. It hit a car and then careened into an officer, who was directing traffic away from the fire.

"It threw the officer up on to the hood of the vehicle," Sites said. "And then he was thrown over into the lanes going in the opposite direction," where he rolled under another car that had stopped.

The collision occurred about 9:25 p.m., while when the white Toyota pickup, driven by a 29-year-old man, failed to yield the right of way to another car, then struck the car in an intersection, police said.

The pickup then drove off in an oncoming traffic lane, striking the officer who was directing traffic.

"The officer was thrown across the front end of the Toyota and carried approximately 100 feet on the vehicle before he was thrown free," Renton Police Commander Paul Cline said in a statement today.

"The officer then rolled under the front end of another vehicle that was stopped in the westbound lanes of Sunset. The Toyota then crossed over the center median and into the eastbound lanes of travel where it collided with a parked Renton Police car and came to rest."

The officer, on the Renton Police force for about a year, was taken to Harborview Medical Center "with non-life-threatening injuries," Cline said. He was released early today.

No one else was hurt in the wreck, Cline added. The pickup's driver was arrested on scene and taken to the Renton Police Department.

"The good news is that the officer is going to be fine," said Balcomb-Bartok.

A number of nearby residents heard explosions soon after the blaze started.

"I live about three blocks away, and I heard the explosion. It was a big boom," said resident Dave Levin. "My girlfriend said, 'That's too big to be fireworks.' "

Balcomb-Bartok said the explosions might have been caused by building materials left on site.

"We became concerned about the homes to the south," said Renton Fire Chief David Daniels.

He said embers were blowing toward about a dozen homes, which were evacuated. But aside from some trees that burned, nothing else caught fire.

Both Harrington Square apartment buildings were to open within six or seven months.

On a Web site, the developer describes the apartments as boasting elegant, luxury features, including private balconies and spalike bathrooms. The ground floor was set aside for businesses.

Kent Fire Department spokesman Capt. Kyle Ohashi said the smaller building that was destroyed was vacant after some previous businesses had moved out.