Arson Attack on Seattle “Green” Development

5 March 2013

The arson of some town­hous­es under con­struc­tion was recent­ly claimed by anony­mous Seat­tle Anar­chists.  This is the com­mu­nique they left, cit­ing their rea­sons and express­ing their joy:

“Just before mid­night, Mon­day Feb 25, we strolled over to the town­hous­es under con­struc­tion on 24th and Nor­man in the Cen­tral Dis­trict. After slip­ping inside, we set one ablaze. Oh what ease! Oh what fun!

Sus­tain­able devel­op­ment is a myth that makes us sick. By fur­ther­ing gen­tri­fi­ca­tion and eco­log­i­cal destruc­tion, these build­ings dress dis­as­ter up as progress, promis­ing a “green” future that will nev­er be.

Our attack was just one more oppor­tu­ni­ty to joy­ous­ly reject the sta­tus quo. It was anoth­er attempt to shed the sub­ju­gat­ed sub­jec­tiv­i­ty forced upon us by Cap­i­tal and the State. We act against civ­il soci­ety and its attempts at domes­ti­ca­tion. Fuck that shit.

Sol­i­dar­i­ty with Mad­dy, Ker­ry, and all the silent ones still fac­ing repres­sion by the Fed­er­al Grand Jury. We will not cow­er in fear. We will not remain docile in the face of State ter­ror.

Now is the time to attack! Ene­mies abound. Weapons are every­where.

Join us?

Some Anar­chists.”

Cor­po­rate news cov­er­age reports:
The fire that caused exten­sive dam­age to an under-con­struc­tion town­house project at 24th and Nor­man last week was inten­tion­al­ly set, fire depart­ment inves­ti­ga­tors say.

Now a post signed only by “Some Anar­chists” on the Puget Sound Anar­chists web­site claims respon­si­bil­i­ty for the arson.

The town­house project devel­op­er Ben­jamin Cus­tom Homes describes the homes as “effi­cient green homes with approx­i­mate­ly 2500sf of mod­ern liv­ing, attached park­ing and pri­vate roof-top deck with views of the Seat­tle sky­line.”

The case is under inves­ti­ga­tion by SPD’s arson team. We have attempt­ed to con­tact SPD to ask them about the PSA post and will update when we hear back. (UPDATE: Seat­tle Police said inves­ti­ga­tors are aware of the post, but have no addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion on the inves­ti­ga­tion at this time.)

Details from SFD:

Seat­tle Fire Inves­ti­ga­tors deter­mined a fire at an under con­struc­tion house in Jud­kins Park was inten­tion­al­ly set.

The ini­tial 911 call came in at 12:28 a.m. report­ing flames com­ing from a sin­gle fam­i­ly home locat­ed at the cor­ner of South Nor­man Street and 24th Avenue South. While respond­ing to the scene, fire offi­cers could see the flames shoot­ing into the night sky from sev­er­al blocks away.

Engine 6 arrived first to find a full involved 3‑story home that was under con­struc­tion. Flames from the home were expos­ing to a sec­ond under con­struc­tion house. Using mul­ti­ple hose lines, fire­fight­ers were able to con­trol the flames in 7 min­utes. Embers from the fire land­ed on a near­by hous­es roof caus­ing a tem­po­rary evac­u­a­tion of the res­i­dents. The res­i­dents were even­tu­al­ly allowed back in.

The fire also dam­aged a piece of con­struc­tion equip­ment, a port-a-pot­ty and burned through a pow­er line to a home. There were no report­ed injuries.

Fire­fight­ers con­duct­ed an overnight fire watch to make sure the embers don’t reignite in the home.
Fire inves­ti­ga­tors esti­mate the dam­age at $30,000 to the struc­ture and con­tents. The case has been turned over to the Seat­tle Police Department’s Arson Bomb Squad who will be inves­ti­gat­ing.