North Seattle fire said arson

SEATTLE – A fire that gutted a two-story home in the north Seattle suburb of Lake Forest Park has been ruled an arson.

The fire is the 15th suspicious Seattle-area blaze in a week. The other 14 occurred in north Seattle. Of those, 13 have been confirmed as arsons. The Lake Forest Park blaze is prompting investigators to consider whether a recent Seattle arson spree could be spreading farther north.

“It fits within the pattern. We wouldn’t be looking at it if it didn’t,” said Doug Dawson, assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In this case, a family of three was sleeping inside. As they scrambled to get out, a neighbor who had spotted the flames called 911.

“The people that were in the house didn’t have time to call,” said Deputy Northshore Fire Chief John Lapsansky. “They had to save themselves.”

In most of the fires, on-site materials were used to ignite the outside of the target building. Lapsansky said officials had not yet determined what was used in Friday’s fire. “There didn’t seem to be any debris,” he said.

Lapsansky cautioned that “there has not been a positive link between this arson and any other arsons going on.”

The ATF bureau in Seattle has enlisted the help of two crime profilers in Washington, D.C. — one an arson specialist, the other an expert in the geography of crime scenes. ATF agents from field offices in Spokane and Portland also have been called in to help.