Fire at Bellevue apartment complex destroys five cars; damages several others

An early morning fire destroyed five cars at a Bellevue apartment complex Friday and damaged five others. The first call came in to the Bellevue Fire Department at 7:48 a.m. reporting a white truck on aflame in the parking lot of the Foothill and Woodland Commons apartments at 13700 Northeast 10th Place, near 140th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street, but by the time firefighters arrived approximately seven minutes later, the fire had engulfed several nearby vehicles, BFD spokesman Lt. Eric Keenan said. No one was hurt in the fire.

An early morning fire destroyed five cars at a Bellevue apartment complex Friday and damaged five others.

The first call came in to the Bellevue Fire Department at 7:48 a.m. reporting a white truck aflame in the parking lot of the Foothill and Woodland Commons apartments at 13700 Northeast 10th Place, near 140th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street, but by the time firefighters arrived approximately seven minutes later, the fire had engulfed several nearby vehicles, BFD spokesman Lt. Eric Keenan said.

No one was hurt in the fire.

It took the fire department less than 15 minutes to contain the blaze, but the damage was done. The fire mangled the cars and melted an overhead car port. In total, Keenan said, the fire caused approximately $150,000 in damage.

The cause of the blaze remains unknown, Keenan said. Investigators are on the scene from both BFD and Bellevue Police.

“We’re going to be relying on a lot of witness accounts and trying to find out if there was anything suspicious,” Keenan said. “We don’t have anything that’s obvious to us right now.”

Keenan said finding a cause in this type of fire can prove difficult because of the extensive damage to the cars. Investigators are looking at everything from water quality in the surrounding area, potential gas discharges in storm drains, if hot engines contributed to the fire, or whether or not arson was a factor.

“My experience with car fires is that there is so much damage it’s almost impossible to find a fault in a car,” he said. “The car sitting where the fire started is so heavily damaged, I don’t know how they’d be able to find a cause from it.”