Laurelhurst Blog: Six Homes Damaged In 3 Alarm Fire Yesterday Near Beach Club

Burned house at 5131 NE Laurelcrest Lane
(photo courtesy of King5/Seattle Fire Department)

A furnace explosion just after 3:30pm yesterday started a house fire at the unoccupied home under construction owned by Adam and Laura (Szlyk) Selipsky on the 5100 block of East Laurelhurst Lane.

The fire spread to two homes next door, one to the south, owned by Jeff Hussey, and the other to the north, owned by Gina Trask.

The embers from the fire also started a small brush fire on a nearby hillside, according to Seattle Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore.

Embers from the brush fire also landed on three other rooves of homes, as well as damaged siding on another home, just above East Laurelhurst Lane, on NE Latimer Place.

Helicopters were overhead for about 2 hours filming the fire and TV crews were on the ground on NE 41st Street.

About 100 fire personnel arrived on the scene, with firetrucks coming from throughout the city and even Bellevue, one nearby resident told us. Firecrew and PSE stayed at the scene until about 7pm.

One construction worker was taken to Harborview with facial burns and two firefighters were also taken to Harborview, one for heat exhaustion and the other for a minor injury.

One nearby resident commented "I wonder if there has ever been a previous time with this many fire trucks and firemen in Laurelhurst at one time." And another resident added " We feel badly for those families whose houses were damaged."

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