ARLINGTON – A methamphetamine lab caused a small explosion early Tuesday at a four-unit apartment complex in Arlington, Police Chief John Gray said.
The explosion blew out a bedroom window and started a small fire shortly after 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, he said.
Residents were home in three of the apartments, which are owned by Compass Health. No one was injured. Arlington firefighters discovered the lab after responding to the small fire inside a bedroom, Gray said.
Police arrested the suspected meth cook, a 20-year-old man who was apparently staying with his grandmother. Investigators suspect he was trying to make the drug using red phosphorus, a dangerous and dirty method that can be difficult to clean up, Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force Sgt. John Flood said.
The process generates phosphine gas, which is extremely explosive, Flood said.
“This explosion could have taken lives,” Gray said. The ramifications are that a neighborhood was placed in jeopardy and innocent people” are without their homes.
The complex in the 200 block of E. Burke Avenue serves low-income residents, said Terry Clark, director of development services. At least four tenants live there. All were evacuated and won’t be allowed to return until the Snohomish Health District, the state Department of Ecology and an Arlington building inspector determine it’s safe.
Compass Health did not know how long that process would take, Clark said. The American Red Cross is providing shelter for the tenants for the next three days.
“We’re working with the Red Cross, the tenants and the health district to try to get folks back into their own homes as soon as possible,” Clark said.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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