Downtown Bellevue High-Rise Fire Displaces Residents

Fifteen apartments were damaged after a mattress caught fire on the ninth floor of the Elements Too building in downtown Bellevue Tuesday morning, Bellevue Fire Department reported.

Firefighters arrived at the high-rise building at 900 block of 112th Ave NE Bellevue, three minutes after the fire was reported at 10:44 a.m., according to the Bellevue Fire Department. The firefighters reached the ninth floor and discovered smoke in the hallway and initiated a request for a “second alarm,”  according the press release.

Firefighters discovered that the fire consumed the majority of a mattress in a bedroom and the building's sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading to other units. The fire was extinguished by 11 a.m., according to the Bellevue Fire Department.

The other apartments were damaged by water from the sprinkler system, up to five floors below the apartment where the fire occurred, according to the fire department. 

Investigators said that the fire was caused by discarded smoking material in a wastebasket spreading to the mattress, according to the fire department. No residents or firefighters were injured in the fire.

The estimated damage to the building is $65,000.