We have updates — and more details to add —  to the earlier story about the garage fire on 17th and Columbia. From the Seattle Fire Department’s Fire Line:

UPDATE: Patient’s age was updated to 54-years-old from initial on scene reports.

July 30—Seattle Fire Investigators determined improperly discarded smoking materials caused a fire in an above-the-garage apartment in the Central District.

Multiple 911 calls came in at 12:52 a.m. reporting flames and smoke coming from a detached garage roof in the alley of a home located in the 800 block of 17th Avenue. Engine Company 25 arrived to find flames shooting from the roof and into the trees above the garage. The flames were also exposing to an apartment complex to the south of the garage.

A neighbor notified the firefighters that a person was living in the space above the garage. Firefighters immediately searched the structure and rescued a 54-year-old male occupant at the bottom of the staircase of the building. The patient suffered 2nd degree burns and smoke inhalation. Medics transported the patient to Harborview Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Within 20 minutes firefighters contained the flames and they completely extinguished the fire within 45 minutes. Crews were able to protect the apartment complex to the South and prevented the flames from spreading from the garage roof to the multiplex.

Fire Investigators were able to speak to the patient at the hospital and discovered he was smoking in bed prior to the fire starting. The cause is considered accidental. The damage estimate is $40,000 to the structure and $5,000 to the contents.

Firefighters remained on the scene until 8 a.m. in a Fire Watch to ensure the fire didn’t rekindle.