Furniture fire is arson

LYNNWOOD

Arson caused a fire that destroyed the Furniture World store, 19215 Highway 99, during the early morning hours of Jan. 17.

That’s the conclusion Lynnwood Fire Marshall Leroy McNulty reached after fire investigators from Lynnwood, Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace searched the site next to the Costco store with help from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A dog trained to detect arson located materials investigators then sent to the ATF lab for analysis.

“We have eliminated all other possible causes,” McNulty said, adding that Lynnwood police will now work closely with the fire department, examining adjacent business’ videos and other information.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which drew response from Lynnwood, Edmonds and Snohomish County Fire District 1 firefighters.

Officials closed Highway 99 for hours because of the fire.

Public safety dispatchers with SNOCOM 911 received the call as a security alarm at 3:32 a.m. Lynnwood Fire Department Spokeswoman Marybeth O’Leary said it’s unclear why dispatchers received a security alarm rather than a fire alarm.

“It could be the age of the system, bad guys, we don’t know,” she said.

Brothers Jeff and Jim Raymond had owned the store, which offered a wide variety of furniture, for 15 years. They leased the 25,000 square foot storefront from the building’s owner.

“Business was real good,” Jim Raymond said, as fire investigators scoured the scene Jan. 18.

Kirkland resident Raymond, 43, said his brother alerted him to the fire about 30 minutes after firefighters responded. He said vandals broke windows on their delivery truck the night of Jan. 14 and slashed the truck’s tires.

Raymond said he anticipates that the landlord will rebuild.

“Right now we’re just going to run our store out of our warehouse one block north and out of our Marysville store,” he said.

The fire left a huge pile of charred debris in its wake.

As investigators walked the site, O’Leary explained that the building was constructed in 1961, 15 years before the City Council adopted regulations requiring sprinkler systems and fire alarms. Because of that, she said, it was not equipped with a sprinkler system, as is required of commercial and residential buildings today.

“Otherwise,” she said, “it would not have burned.”

McNulty said the landlord was not required to add a sprinkler system because the building was listed as a preexisting, non-conforming use and not subject to the same requirements as other, newer city buildings.

The Furniture World fire was the second fire in as many days citywide.

A Jan. 16 fire damaged a mobile home in the Medo-Lyn Mobile Ranch, 6208 202nd St. SW.

Lynnwood Fire Department firefighters also assisted Snohomish County Fire District 1 in its response to a house fire just north of 164th Street that injured no one but caused more than $125,000 damage.