Lake Union Arson Charges

Today, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office rush-filed charges of Arson in the First Degree against a man suspected of causing the recent Lake Union boat facility fire.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office argued for $750,000 bail at the first appearance. The court set bail at $100,000. That is maintained with the rush-file charging decision today, and the defendant remains in King County Jail.

From the public charging documents:

The defendant climbed onto the third or fourth story of the dry storage boat rack, where he started a fire. This area is not easily accessible; there is no ladder or set of stairs leading up to it. A person would have to climb up the racks to reach the area. Once the fire was burning, the defendant was seen on video climbing down from the boat racks and running to hide on a boat sitting in the water. There is no indication that he attempted to remedy the harm he caused by calling for help, rather he hid until he was located by police. This fire quickly spread out of control to other boats on the rack, eventually engulfing two of the boat racks completely. The blazing fire the defendant caused presented a significant danger to the entire area. The fire was very large in size and eventually caused the boat racks to completely collapse, further endangering first responders on the ground. Fortunately, fire fighters were able to get the fire under control, however this fire presented a very real danger to the community given its location in a densely populated area.

The defendant has a prior history, though not all of those cases have come to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, including multiple California cases.