SEATTLE — Seattle Fire Department (SFD) crews were working early on New Year's Day to contain a large blaze that grew into a 3-alarm fire at a vacant building.
The building, located in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood at 823 Madison Street, is a four-story vacant structure, KING 5 confirmed at the scene.
"When you bring in the new year, you expect to wake up the next morning going, 'Okay, it's going to be a great day.' But you look up and see this happening, it's a whole different feeling, that's for sure," said neighbor Howard Russell, who woke up to the sirens. "It's time to tear that building down. It's time to start all over, start fresh and get it taken care of."
One person was seen on the second floor of the building. However, crews were unable to reach them and it is currently unclear if they evacuated, according to the SFD. There were also people in the basement of the building who evacuated uninjured.
The massive mess spans blocks.
"It looks like burnt soot, sloppy burnt soot and objects spread around," said Evonne Fitzgerald, who lives nearby.
Some residents are back in their buildings but are still dealing with issues from the fire.
"We can go up, we just don't have a working elevator right now," one resident said.
Bloodworks Northwest said that it had to close its Seattle Central donor center because no one could access its parking garage. They don't know how long that impact will last.
Madison Street is closed in both directions from 8th Avenue to Terry Avenue and on 9th Avenue from Marion Street to Madison Street.
In a video shared on the department's X account, flames can be seen throughout the top floor of the building as crews attempt to limit the smoke and fumes exposure to nearby buildings.
Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said there was another major fire at the same vacant building about a year and a half ago. Three nearby buildings were evacuated as a result of the flames.
Neighbors said they have been frustrated by the lack of security.
"There's no fence around it, there's nothing around it to stop people from going in there so that's where some of these problems come in," said Russell.
Back in July, a building on the same block in the First Hill neighborhood caught fire and one person was rescued. Flames could be seen from nearby freeways.
Over 100 firefighters responded to the scene on Monday, and a nearby building on Ninth Avenue also was on fire.
Between 2021 and 2022, the number of unsecured vacant buildings increased by 41% in Seattle. The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI reported a 57% increase in buildings that are secured but otherwise have some sort of maintenance or safety violation. The city is on track to surpass both of those statistics this year.
Under the city's current code, owners of vacant buildings are required to be secured against unauthorized entry, comply with all building and safety standards and be kept free of junk and overgrown vegetation. In 2019, the city council voted to create a Vacant Building Monitoring Program, which building owners are entered into if they fail to come into compliance with code violations before a set deadline.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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