A fire in a homeless camp underscores the public safety concerns facing Seattle’s Chinatown International District (CID), an ongoing issue that has forced multiple businesses to close or move out of the neighborhood.
With cooler fall weather on the way, fears are growing that these fires will occur more frequently.
Journalist Jonathan Choe posted a video to his Twitter account (@choeshow) showing flames burning trees along the I-5 corridor near 8th Avenue South and South Weller Street on October 23.
Several tents and nearby trees were burned, and no one was injured.
The building that used to be the Tsue Chong Company is nearby. Building owner Tim Louie told NW Asia Weekly he intends to sell the property as the situation does not improve.
We reported on a community petition in July asking the Washington State Department of Transportation and the City of Seattle to clear land following another fire in a homeless camp at the back of the block.
“Nothing has been done so far,” Louie told us.
Kim Ngan of Vuu Beauty School describes her business location as “the beginning of a homeless village” and being a business owner surrounded by homeless people “was a scary time”.
She said they “are no longer homeless, they are criminals.”
According to the Seattle Fire Department (SFD), the Oct. 23 blaze burned through the roughly 500-square-foot campsite with flames as high as 30 feet.
The SFD also said no private property was damaged and there was nothing suspicious about the fire.
