Fires rage during summer heatwave

Horizon

Date: 2082-08-05 By: Staff Writer

August 5th // Staff Writer Before a Westwood area hotel fire that would claim sixteen lives was finally quashed, emergency services were alerted to another large scale blaze in the Inglewood area of Bellevue. Near enough to lake Washington, that fire was tamped down quickly, but the lives of two young people were tragically lost. Does this sound familiar? Perhaps it’s because two buildings in Renton were lost to what is being called a “tragic large-scale electrical surge” that caused rolling brownouts across the district. And, as first responders battled these infernos, an unidentified gnome was seen setting a large warehouse on fire in the northern part of Sophocles. While the DA scrambles in conjunction with the Franklin Associates Incorporated office to discern if any of the other fires were man-made, some climate experts are calling this an “inevitable spike in climate-related emergencies,” and warn that future fires are increasingly likely.” With various agencies already engaged with other fires, the Sophocles blaze has been deemed self-contained and is not a danger to other properties. As such, it will be allowed to burn itself out. The facility contained crates of outdated commlinks, and the fumes are “likely toxic to anyone inhaling them”, Franklin Associates has noted. Local residents within a half mile radius are recommended, but not required, to evacuate the area for the next 72 hours.