Woman Killed In `Suspicious’ Fire

Arson and police investigators are probing a suspicious apartment fire that killed a woman.

The blaze at a ground floor unit of the Ballinger Woodlands Apartments in the north Seattle suburb of Shoreline was reported late Friday night.

Firefighters from King County Fire District 4 and nearby departments extinguished the blaze and found the body of a woman inside, said Jim Fisher, assistant fire marshal for District 4.

The victim appeared to be in her late 30s or early 40s, Fisher said. She apparently lived in the apartment alone.

The fire marshal and King County police detectives were summoned. They were investigating the blaze as an arson and homicide, Fisher said.

The county medical examiner’s office performed an autopsy Saturday but did not immediately release the woman’s identity or cause of death.

The fire caused an estimated $250,000 damage to two units.