Vonnai Phair
The Seattle Times
(TNS)
Nov. 12—Seattle police are investigating a Monday night fire at a historic lodge at West Seattle’s Camp Long as arson.
Based on preliminary information, officials found multiple broken glass windows in the lodge — “which could have been a point of entry” — and two nearby cabins that appeared to be broken into, according to Seattle Police Department spokesperson Eric Muñoz.
Authorities confirmed the fire was intentionally set, Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Kaila Lafferty said Tuesday afternoon.
The monetary loss was estimated at $1.2 million.
The blaze, which led to a massive Seattle Fire Department response, started shortly after 8 p.m. Monday on the first floor of the two-story stone-and-wood building in the 5200 block of 35th Avenue Southwest. The building and its surrounding 68-acre park hosts events, environmental education programs and nature field trips.
Sixty firefighters — including seven engines and three ladder trucks — responded. After first searching the building’s basement, firefighters retreated after finding a hole in the floor on the first story, Lafferty said.
Crews extinguished the fire by Tuesday morning. The flames left the front of the lodge scorched and a gaping hole in its roof.
Source: Esri (Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times)
The fire appears to have started inside the north stairwell, according to a preliminary police report. A fire marshal told a Seattle police officer that one of the cabins had glass shattered across the ground, along with “blood droplets” in and out of the structure.
There was no indication that any property was stolen, according to the report.
Nobody was injured, firefighters reported.
“Last night, our beloved and historic Camp Long building, along with two other cabins on site, were vandalized and caught fire,” said Rachel Schulkin, a Seattle Parks & Recreation spokesperson.
The parks department is still “actively assessing the situation,” Schulkin said. Further information on the future of the facility was not immediately available.
The lodge was built in the 1930s, part of a federal Works Progress Administration public project that created the park with stone architecture, cabins and meadows.
According to Seattle Parks and Recreation’s website, the lodge features “a brick fireplace and tall ceiling and has a maximum capacity of 72 people.” The lodge’s basement is an activity room with space for 35 people.
Seattle Times staff reporter Caitlyn Freeman contributed to this report.
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