UPDATE 6:50pm
Seattle Fire Investigators determined a two-alarm fire that damaged three homes was accidental, caused by an improperly installed heater on a back porch. The damage estimate is $2.7 million dollars total for all three homes.

The complete story from the Seattle Fire Department follows:

On Thursday April 30th at 4:44 p.m., multiple 911 calls came into the Fire Alarm Center reporting smoke coming from a home in the 6700 block of 46th Avenue SW. The first responding engine company saw a large column of black smoke and called for a two-alarm fire response which doubled the number of fire units and personnel responding to the fire.

When crews arrive, they found two homes on fire with flames exposing to a third home. Soon, the third home was on fire. The Incident Commander called for three additional engine companies to assist with current fire crews on scene. At the height of the fire, nearly 100 firefighters and dozens of fire units were on scene.

Crews quickly determined that all occupants had safely evacuated the residences. A female occupant of the first fire house had escaped. A male and two females escaped the home to the north. The owner of the home to the south was out of town.

One significant challenge for firefighters was the long narrow hillside road with limited access.

As the fire progressed, firefighters connected to the four hydrants closest to the burning homes in two separate water pressure zones. This included two hydrants above the fire and two below the fire. One of the initial four hydrants was located on Fauntleroy Ave SW which was about the length of two football fields.

As standard practice, Seattle Public Utilities responded to the fire scene to boost water flow on hydrants. The hydrants are owned, operated and maintained by Seattle Public Utilities. The Seattle Fire Code does not regulate SPU fire hydrants in the City of Seattle.

For the first two homes, firefighters took a defensive position, fighting the fire from the outside. They used the deck gun mounted on the first engine and a two-and-a-half inch hand line.

For the third home, firefighters ran an interior attack and crews worked to extinguish the fire on multiple floors.

The original fire house and the house to the south had partial collapses and firefighters were not able to enter.

There were no injuries to occupants or firefighters.

Multiple agencies assisted with the fire operation:

• Seattle City Light
• Seattle Police Department
• Seattle Public Utilities
• Seattle Department of Transportation
• Metro Transit
• Puget Sound Energy

South King County Fire Units From Zone 3 including:

• Kent Fire Department
• Renton Fire Department
• Tukwila Fire Department
• SeaTac Fire Department
• South King County Fire Department

Original Post
A single-family home in the 6700 block of 46 SW. went up in flames on Thursday at around 5 pm sending a huge column of smoke skyward as the three story house was burning top to bottom. Three houses were a total loss in the fire. No one was hurt but a search was on for pets. Firefighters battled the blaze which was persistent and full of flames. No cause or damage estimate were available.

A man staying in one of the homes while the owners are away told the Herald "I started to hear what sounded like footsteps on the roof but that didn't make sense so I stepped outside and I could see flames coming out of the roof of the house that is now gone. So I grabbed what I could and got out."

The water pressure was too low to address the flames initially and hose had to brought down the narrow road from Fauntleroy Way SW which was closed during the incident. It also disrupted Metro bus service.