City could tear down dangerous vacant buildings under Seattle Mayor Harrell's emergency proposal

The city of Seattle would be allowed to demolish unsafe vacant buildings to prevent them from catching fire under emergency legislation proposed by Mayor Bruce Harrell.

There were 130 vacant building fires reported in Seattle last year, three of them deadly. There have been 30 more such fires so far this year.

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“While the city has taken steps to encourage adaptive reuse of vacant structures for new purposes, we cannot allow these unmaintained structures to put lives and property at risk from trespassers, arson, and other crimes,” Harrell said.

If owners of dangerous buildings don’t secure or demolish them when ordered to do so by the fire department, the city could take those steps itself and put a lien on the property for reimbursement under the proposed law change.

“This legislation will give the Seattle Fire Department a new tool to take quick action to remedy derelict buildings that threaten the health and safety of our neighborhoods,” Harrell said.

The Seattle Fire Department is already tracking more than 40 vacant buildings that could be affected by the proposed law, and estimates it could take action on about 10 buildings a year.

On New Year’s Day, a three-alarm fire in a First Hill vacant building forced the evacuation of a neighboring apartment building. There had also been a three-alarm fire in the same building in 2022.

Fire officials say one factor contributing to the city’s 69% increase in derelict buildings catching fire between 2013 and 2021 is the growing number of homeless people who use the buildings for shelter. Fires lit to keep warm — or to smoke fentanyl and meth — can spread.

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Some of the recent vacant building fires were determined to be accidental, while others were deemed the result of arson. All pose a risk to the public and to first responders, Harrell said in a written statement.

Currently, owners of vacant buildings are required to maintain them and secure them against trespass — or get fined $542 a month.

Although the city does not have a comprehensive list of vacant buildings, an ordinance that took effect in 2019 requires developers to add vacant buildings planned for redevelopment to the city's monitoring list for three months. At that point, the buildings come off the list if they have had no violations, like unsecured properties or trash piles.

Citizens can also report nuisance buildings to the city for inspection — a list that doubled in length from 2015 to 2022, due in part to the city's real estate boom and zoning changes, officials say.

The emergency legislation needs a 3/4 vote by the city council and would go into effect immediately.