In case you heard the sirens or saw the trucks going in every possible direction, the cause of all the commotion was a fire in the basement of a house in the 800 block of MLK, just one house south of the intersection at Marion. Although there’s no word yet on injuries, firefighters had the fire out very quickly. Flames were never visible, but the acrid smell of smoke was definitely present around the area.

The real lesson in this case is to be very clear about your street address when speaking to 911, especially if you’re calling from a cell phone where they can’t get an exact location. The original address for this call was 825 MLK South. It wasn’t until all 14 fire units arrived that they figured out that the actual address was 825 MLK (plain). All those trucks then had to turn around and haul ass 1 mile north, past Jackson, past Yesler, and past Cherry to the correct address.

So remember: if you don’t live on a street with a direction, make sure and tell the dispatchers “825 MLK Plain” so that they understand.

We’ve got a call into the fire department to get the details and will update this when we find out.