From the Seattle Police Blotter

SPD Arson/Bomb Squad detective are searching for a group of young men seen running from a burning home in the Delridge neighborhood in West Seattle Thursday afternoon

Police are still working to piece together the strange incident, but officers initially received reports of gunfire in the 7300 block of 16th Avenue SW just before 4 pm, and then received information that a house on the street was engulfed in flames.

At then scene, firefighters extinguished the blaze as police spoke with a man who lives in a very small shack behind the burning home.

The arson investigating took a strange turn when the resident of the shack told officers he had heard sawing sounds on the roof of his shack shortly before the fire.

The shack resident told officers he walked outside the shack and found a man—described as a white male in his 20s, with long hair—standing on the shack roof.

The shack resident then heard two loud pops—which may have been fireworks—and saw flames climbing the side of the house adjacent to the shack.

The lone man inside the burning home was able to escape, but sustained minor burns in the process. The shack and its resident were not injured by the fire.

Witnesses reported seeing a group of three young men running from the scene of the fire. It’s unclear if they had any connection to the man spotted on the roof of the shack.

Officers searched the area and called for a K9 unit, but were unable to locate any of the possible suspects.