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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
33 stories matching scorch
- The Great Yakima Avenue Conflagration
A devastating blaze sweeps through the business district, leveled by fire and saved only by the grit of citizens and a stand of shade trees.
- A Desperate Escape on Commercial Street
A Russian immigrant narrowly survives a lodging house fire that authorities suspect was sparked by coal oil.
- Third Suspicious Fire in Ten Months Burns Montesano Restaurant
A 4 a.m. blaze destroyed the Elk restaurant and scorched a neighboring home—the third suspected incendiary fire in the area in ten months.
- A Governor's Buggy Ride Through a Wall of Fire
Gov. Newell and Rev. J. K. Thompson returned to Olympia after a forest fire closed in on both sides of the road, scorching their faces and nearly dropping a tree across their path.
- Nineteen Buildings Gone Before Breakfast
With no fire department and only buckets, the Kitsap County seat of Sidney watched its entire business district burn to the ground in three hours — then promised to rebuild as Seattle had.
- The Branding of a Child in a Seattle Blacksmith Shop
A young boy, terrorized and silent, comes home with a 'fiery red' brand scorched into his body, allegedly by three men at a local forge.
- The Final Voyage of the Wildwood
A steamship captain recounts the harrowing night his vessel burned to the water’s edge while docked at Olympia.
- A Woman’s Escape from an Abusive Marriage
A Seattle woman recounts the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband in Gilman and her struggle to leave him.
- The Tragic End of the Steamer Fanny Lake
A boiler explosion leaves the familiar local craft a ruined hulk on the waterfront.
- A Near Disaster on the Waterfront
A fire in a Front Street lunch counter nearly consumes the business district after city officials neglected to enforce fire safety ordinances.
- The Rockets Turned Around: Tacoma's Fourth of July Went Up in a Sheet of Flame
A spark touched off the entire $500 pyrotechnic stock at Wright Park, driving rockets and bombs into a crowd of thousands and leaving women and children burned, trampled and briefly lost in the smoke.
- The Rebuilding of Seattle After the Great Fire
Civic leaders and laborers work to transform the scorched remains of the city into a modern metropolis.
- The Tragedy at the Eagle Annex
A woman is found dead in a tent and her companion lies near death, leaving police with a grisly mystery and no murder weapon.
- Winter Fire Destroys Cottage Near Old Town
A morning fire leaves a local family homeless, while a separate blaze claims a notorious dance hall just as its license expires.
- "That Ticket Has Blood on It": The Night Seattle Was Haunted by a Cursed Bill
A mysterious $5 bill with a death threat scribbled on the back sparked a city-wide panic and a frantic search for two young women who vanished into the night.
- The Great Buckley Fire Wipes Out East Main Street
A lumber town’s business district is reduced to ash after a mill fire jumps the tracks and consumes an entire city block.
- The City Buried Its Own Mistake: Coroner’s Verdict Blames Seattle for Deadly Boiler Explosion
A coroner’s jury has issued a scathing indictment against the city of Seattle, its building inspectors, and a plumber for the negligence that led to a Tuesday night explosion. The verdict fixes blame on the municipality for allowing a dangerous steam heater beneath a public sidewalk without proper oversight.
- The Penitent Lion-Tamer
A quiet laborer in a traveling Seattle menagerie finds redemption through a final, fatal sacrifice.
- Sidney Hotel Lost to Afternoon Blaze
A rapid-fire inferno destroys a town landmark, underscoring the dangers of early Seattle-area settlements lacking municipal fire suppression.
- The Political Tax Revolt of 1885
In a scorched-earth letter to the editor, a Whatcom resident decries the rise of 'Knights of Labor' candidates, claiming their victory at the polls signaled a collapse of property values and fiscal responsibility.
- Steamer Burned to the Waterline on the Skagit
A fire sparked by a boiler quickly consumed the steamer Fanny Lake, leaving passengers and crew with nothing but their lives.
- The Little Yellow Bank That Outlasted the Great Seattle Fire
Dexter Horton’s one-story stone office at Commercial and Washington survived the 1889 conflagration—and became the foundation of a downtown banking landmark.
- The Great Seattle Church Schism: Denny’s Deed vs. The Pastor’s Pew
A bitter power struggle at the First Christian Church has erupted into physical confrontation, with trustees seizing the building from Rev. Rufus Moss and his loyalists in a dispute over leadership and property rights.
- Guy Phinney's Brick Building Rises First After Seattle Fire
How Seattle’s downtown business district—scorched by the Great Fire—was transformed by private investment into a modern, fireproof city in just over a year.
- The Calkins Hotel Despoiled
A real estate trust claims tenants of an East Seattle hotel are gutting the building and flooding its rooms in a scorched-earth dispute over a lease.
Also about this, in other words
- A Desperate Act at Chimacum
A local laborer, facing destitution, ends his life in a violent explosion that rocks a small settlement.
- Scalded at the Black Diamond Mine
A foreman investigating a steam plume slipped into near-boiling water, a reminder of how quickly industrial work could turn.
- 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.
- A Tragic Accident in the Solduck Valley
A mother and child were severely scalded after a household accident involving a stove and a boiling kettle.
- A Close Call at the Cleaning Shop
Static electricity turns a routine cleaning job into a dangerous fire, destroying a local shop's equipment and wardrobe.
- Burning Oil, a Shattered Shanty, and a Logger Who Threw Two Men to Safety
Chester LaChapelle rescued his cousin and a roommate after a gasoline stove exploded near Kapowsin, sacrificing his own face and hands to the flames.
- The Hidden Scourge on the Rooftop
When a cigar factory worker in Seattle was discovered to be rotting from a mysterious disease, it sparked a local panic over health, labor, and the limits of the city's care.
- Arson Attack at Snohomish Mercantile
An incendiary device was discovered burning in the floorboards of a Chinese-owned store, nearly igniting the heart of the business district.