Councilmember vows 'full public airing' of issues in Fremont fire

UPDATE 1:05 PM: There will be a 3 p.m. press conference on the cause of the fatal fire.

Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess said he plans a "full public airing" of issues surrounding the Seattle Fire Department's response to a town-house fire in Fremont that claimed the lives of four children and a woman.

Burgess, who chairs the council's Public Safety & Education Committee, said Tuesday that his office will submit a list of questions to the Fire Department later this week and then will schedule a series of public briefings in the coming weeks to discuss what happened, including the mechanical failure of the first engine on the scene, which delayed an attack on the fire by minutes.

"Part of the reason is that our firefighters deserve this, as much as anyone, so that what they did do there will be recognized and acknowledged," he said.

But another purpose, he said, would be to examine the delays and how, or if, they contributed to the deaths of 22-year-old Eyerusalem Gebregiorgis; Joseph Gebregiorgis, 13; Nyella Smith, 7; Yaseen Shamam, 5; and Nisreen Shamam, 6.

On Wednesday, the King County Medical Examiner's Office officially released the names of the victims, but said the cause and manner of their deaths is pending additional investigation.

Joseph, Yaseen and Nisreen were the children of apartment renter Helen Gebregiorgis, 31, who managed to flee the burning unit with a 5-year-old niece, and then had to be restrained from running back into the home.

Gebregiorgis told investigators that she had run upstairs to warn the others after she discovered the fire, and then ran outside believing they were behind her. Instead, they apparently took refuge in an upstairs bathroom, where their bodies were found.

The fire was reported about 10:04 a.m. Saturday at a five-unit complex of two-story town houses at 344 N.W. 41st St. owned by the Seattle Housing Authority.

Dispatch records show that the engine stationed closest to the fire was on a nonemergency medical call in Wallingford, so the first truck on the scene came from Station 18 in Ballard and arrived at 10:09 a.m. Fire Chief Gregory Dean said heavy smoke and flames were pouring from the building.

The engine was unable to engage its pump, however, and the crew had to wait with slack hoses for 2 ½ minutes for another truck to arrive and pump water.

The engine that experienced the mechanical failure is a 1996 model — one of the department's older reserve trucks — and was assigned to Station 18 while its newer engine was undergoing maintenance.

The department said it will bring in a representative from the truck's manufacturer, E-One of Ocala, Fla., to find out what happened. The Fire Department said Tuesday that the reserve truck — designated Engine 81 — had been tested successfully by crews earlier Saturday, before the fire.

The department, with the help of police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said it would not comment on the cause of the fire until the investigation is completed. Sources with knowledge of the investigation have told The Seattle Times the fire may have begun in a mattress stored in a downstairs closet that came into contact with a light bulb.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office has not released the results of autopsies.

The Seattle Fire Department plans to meet with residents of the building and neighbors to talk about what happened at the fire and to answer questions. The date, time and location of the meeting will be announced as soon as it has been arranged.

To respect the family's mourning, the meeting will not be held until after Friday's memorial service.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com