EVERETT – Investigators don’t think whoever started nearly two dozen fires at an apartment complex Sunday is responsible for arsons that have caused millions of dollars in damage in north Seattle.
“It’s very unlikely it’s the same person,” Everett Fire Marshal Warren Burns said Monday.
Investigators haven’t found any definitive link to a number of suspicious fires started in Everett this summer and blazes set in north Seattle, Edmonds and Lynnwood.
“We can assure the public we have not yet confirmed any association to any other fires inside or outside Everett,” Sgt. Boyd Bryant said.
Monday, detectives were following a number of leads into the fires that were set inside 22 laundry rooms Sunday at the Park Place Apartments, 120 W. Casino Road. About 600 people live in the apartment complex, which is made up of 42 separate buildings, each with its own laundry room.
A fire investigator from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting in the case.
On Sunday, someone went through the laundry rooms, lighting garbage and clothes on fire.
Police don’t know if the fires are the work of more than one person, Bryant said.
Investigators do say it is likely that whoever set the fires was familiar with the apartment buildings.
It would have taken about 15 to 30 minutes for someone who knows the apartment complex layout to start that many fires, Burns said.
Some of the fires smoldered and never ignited, while others caused damage to the laundry rooms.
Damage to the buildings was estimated at about $22,000. None of the fires spread to any adjacent living quarters.
The laundry rooms have locks but it is unclear if they were secured when the fires were started. Some smoke detectors in nearby apartments didn’t go off because there wasn’t enough smoke to trigger the alarms, Burns said.
“It’s definitely a case that could have been very tragic,” Bryant said.
Experts say serial arsonists are rare, but copycats sometimes set fires on the heels of highly publicized blazes, such as the arsons this summer in Seattle, and other, smaller fires in Everett.
“It is a sad fact that others may choose to imitate these people,” Bryant said.
This is the second apartment complex hit by an arsonist in Everett this month. Someone started fires inside two apartments on Wetmore Avenue on Aug. 1.
Police wouldn’t say how the Wetmore Avenue apartment fires started but warned residents to keep their windows shut when they weren’t home.
Everett police have been working with apartment managers and owners to improve security at their buildings.
A crime-free rental housing workshop will begin in October. Police will be addressing concerns about arsons in Everett this summer, crime prevention officer Steve Paxton said.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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