Arson Blamed In Seattle Fire
Arson caused a three-alarm fire that gutted the top two floors of a downtown Seattle building, fire officials said Sunday.
Fire Department spokeswoman Georgia Taylor said the fire early Saturday was set in a storage area on the fifth and top floor of the Polson Building, which once housed Ace Novelty Co. and was the site of a spectacular 1974 arson blaze.
Investigators would not say how Saturday’s fire started or whether Ace Novelty records were in the storage area, Taylor said.
No one was hurt in the fire, and the extent of the damage had not been determined Sunday. The building, one block east of Seattle’s waterfront, houses retail shops, an antique outlet, a number of studios for artists and photographers, a wood shop and storage areas.
Ace Novelty is the target of a state Gambling Commission lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court. The suit alleges that Gaming Lottery Corp. of America Inc., based in Toronto, secretly acquired Ace Novelty’s pulltab factory in suburban Bellevue last year and operated it without a state license.
Ace Novelty and Gaming Lottery also are suing each other, each claiming debts from the other.
A court order was issued recently to freeze the finances of the pulltab operation, halt production and require that all records be open to state investigators, the weekly Puget Sound Business Journal reported.
Commission Chairman Frank L. Miller did not immediately return a telephone call Sunday for comment.
Ace Novelty President Ronald Mayers said Sunday that company officials had been unable to enter the building, but he believes the company’s losses were limited to “some old business records and some old inventories.”
All company records relating to the litigation are probably in Bellevue, where Ace Novelty now has its headquarters, Mayers said.
Citing court documents, the Business Journal reported in its April 26-May 2 edition that the purchase was intended to give Gaming Lottery a springboard for entry to the U.S. gambling industry.
Ace Novelty moved to Bellevue after an arson fire in the Polson Building in June 1974. According to Fire Department documents obtained by reporters, investigators believed the blaze might have been set by rival pulltab manufacturers from Chicago, but no charges were filed.
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