EVERETT — A shoeless man was arrested Friday afternoon when a fire in a bathroom led to a brief evacuation of a Snohomish County administrative office.
Everett firefighters rushed to the eight-story Robert J. Drewel building on Rockefeller Avenue as smoke poured from a men’s room in the basement around 3 p.m.
They found a tent and sleeping bag burning near an abandoned pair of shoes, said Shari Ireton, spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. One woman suffered minor injuries when she fell down the stairs while leaving.
Meanwhile sheriff’s deputies detained a man, 47, sitting outside the building.
“They sort of put two-and-two together that he didn’t have on any shoes,” Ireton said. Deputies checked security footage, and saw he had left the restroom around the time the fire alarms went off.
He admitted to starting the fire, Ireton said. He was arrested and was expected to be booked.
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