Fireworks not cause of fire

SEATTLE – A faulty electrical cord, not fireworks, caused a multimillion-dollar fire that scorched two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration piers on Lake Union, four of the agency’s boats and two buildings following a Fourth of July celebration, investigators said Friday.

The cord, which ran from a dock to a ship, caused the fire when it shorted early Wednesday morning, the Seattle Fire Department said. The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m., more than two hours after the end of a fireworks show over the lake.

The piers, part of NOAA’s 15-acre Pacific Marine Operations Center on the lake, are expected to be unusable for as long as two years. About 100 NOAA employees and their families who watched the show from the pier had left by about 11 p.m. Tuesday. Six firefighters were treated for minor injuries and dozens of houseboats were evacuated as a precaution.