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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 9 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 12 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 5 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1923 | 1 |
54 stories matching char
- A Veteran’s Tragic Death at the Orchard Fire
A Civil War veteran, struggling with a health crisis, died after attempting to extinguish an orchard fire on his daughter’s ranch.
- Tragedy in North Seattle: A Father’s Desperate Attempt to Save His Children
After a midnight fire engulfs their home, a grieving father is left to mourn three young children, sparking a local relief effort among neighbors.
- The Rancher and the Charred Remains
When a successful Seattle chicken rancher is found burned to death in his home, a local detective follows a trail of missing money, mining stocks, and a suspicious 'friend' to uncover a grim murder mystery.
- The Poor Man's Stump Burner: Newport Farmers Pack Kelly's Hall
In 1909, 150 farmers crowded a Newport hall to hear a state expert explain how to clear land by charring stumps—a low-cost method that promised to open Pend Oreille County fields.
- Tragedy at the Old County Hospital
An elderly woman is trapped and killed when a kerosene lamp sparks a blaze in the abandoned county hospital building.
- The Narrow Escape of Aberdeen
A pre-dawn fire in a downtown barber shop threatened to raze the young city, but a swift response from the local hose company stopped the flames before they reached the business district.
- The Phoenix of the Pacific: Seattle Three Years After the Great Fire
Reflecting on the 1889 conflagration, the city celebrates its rapid transformation from a pile of smoldering ruins into a booming commercial metropolis.
- Smelter Boarding House Reduced to Ash After Brawl
A drunken dispute between boarders turned into an explosive inferno at the smelter district, leaving residents fleeing for their lives.
- The Test of the Chemical Fire Extinguisher
A skeptical crowd gathers at Second and Marion to watch a new, pressurized fire-fighting contraption in action.
- Tragedy at the Seattle Waterfront
A fiery disaster at the wharf claims a life and leaves a ship in ruins.
- The Sawdust in Your Spice Cabinet
A Seattle newspaper exposé from 1888 reveals that the city's food supply was being systemically poisoned by greed, with sawdust in spices and grease in butter.
- The Ghost of William Radloff
A Seattle poultry farmer appears to have staged his own death in a house fire to claim a $55,000 insurance payout, leaving investigators to wonder if the charred remains in the ruins were those of a stolen corpse.
- The Tragedy at Virginia Street
A grisly discovery on the Seattle waterfront exposes the hidden desperation of 1889.
- The Great Seattle Rebuild: How the 1889 Fire Transformed the City
In the chaotic days following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city raced to replace charred ruins with brick, while grappling with the ethical dilemma of redirecting disaster relief funds intended for distant cities.
- Suspicious Fire Sweeps Benton County Courthouse
A mid-day blaze in the treasurer's office leaves officials baffled, marking the second fire scare at the building in recent weeks.
- Rising from the Embers: Ellensburg's Rapid Rebirth
After a devastating fire consumed the heart of the city in July 1889, the community transformed from a charred wasteland into a brick-fronted city in just two months.
- The Great Seattle Fire of 1889: Organizing Relief Amidst Chaos
Following the cataclysmic fire that leveled downtown, city officials and volunteer committees scrambled to house the displaced and maintain order in the charred remains of the district.
- A Forty-Foot Leap From a Burning Lodging House
A predawn blaze in a Terrace Street rooming house forces immigrant laborers to jump from windows; one is likely fatally injured.
- Furniture Factory Nearly Lost to Waterfront Fire
Firefighters battle a stubborn blaze beneath the old Mechanics' Wharf after flames broke out under a newly opened mattress and furniture factory.
- Tragedy in the Woods: Two Brothers Die in Fire
A ranching family returns to their home near Colby to find their children dead in the ashes, sparking a community effort to assist the destitute parents.
- The Tragedy at Tenino: A Mother’s Search for Her Child in the Flames
When a fire destroyed the home of Stephen Hogden and his boarder B.W. Ward on February 15, 1877, most escaped—but nine-year-old Nellie Ward was lost to the inferno.
- The Mysterious Death of a South Seattle Miser
After a suspicious fire claims the home and life of a reclusive miner, neighbors and local officials clash over whether he was murdered for his gold.
- The Fire That Killed a Hotel
A disastrous downtown blaze consumed the Star Theater, inadvertently scuttling a major quarter-million-dollar property deal.
- The Night the Post Building Smoldered
A pre-dawn fire nearly claims the offices of the Post-Intelligencer, revealing the stark difference between fire safety in brick versus wooden structures.
- Rising from the Ashes: How Seattle Met Its Great Fire
A look back at the resilience of the local business class in the immediate, charred aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire.