A man is in custody after allegedly pouring gasoline on multiple vehicles and setting himself on fire at a Shell gas station on Northeast Andresen Road in Vancouver Monday afternoon. Witnesses described the man running around the station naked before the fire broke out, and he sustained burns to his legs in the incident.
Vancouver Police and fire crews responded to the scene, according to KATU. Witness Kari Bloodsaw told the outlet that “a gentleman was completely naked and harassing vehicles and drivers in their cars” before the situation escalated. Bloodsaw also said a fire-extinguisher service worker took quick action during the incident, helping to contain the flames before firefighters arrived.
Vancouver Police spokesperson Kim Kapp described the incident as an apparent mental health crisis. Arson investigators were called to the scene as police and fire personnel worked to determine exactly how the fire started and how much damage was done to the vehicles doused in gasoline.
A Busy Commercial Corridor Shuts Down
Northeast Andresen Road is a major four-lane commercial and transit corridor connecting State Route 500 to nearby retail centers, auto shops, and residential neighborhoods, and it carries heavy daily commuter and shopping traffic. It's not the first time this year the corridor has drawn a major police and fire response — in April, a drive-by shooting near NE 18th Street wounded three teenagers and shut down surrounding roads, a case Hoodline covered in its report on the Andresen Road shooting.
Vancouver Fire Department, which operates 11 stations covering more than 300,000 residents across an 89-square-mile response area and handles over 38,000 emergency calls annually, was among the agencies that responded to the Shell station. Gas stations like the one on Andresen Road are required under national fire code to have accessible emergency shutoff switches near fuel pumps, along with rated fire extinguishers on site, both designed to limit exactly the kind of fuel-fire risk this incident presented.
What Happens Next for the Man in Custody
It remains unclear what criminal charges, if any, will be filed against the man now in custody. Under Washington law, knowingly and maliciously causing a fire that is manifestly dangerous to human life can constitute first-degree arson, a Class A felony punishable by up to life in prison — though the seed reporting does not indicate whether prosecutors are pursuing that or any other charge.
Given Kapp's description of the episode as an apparent mental health crisis, the man could also be evaluated under Washington's Involuntary Treatment Act, which allows peace officers and designated crisis responders to hold someone in a severe behavioral health crisis for up to 120 hours of evaluation if they're found to pose an imminent danger to themselves or others. The dossier does not specify whether that process has been initiated in this case, and key details — including the man's identity, his current medical condition, and whether any criminal charges have been filed — remain unknown.
