Firefighters converged on the 1200 block of Harrison Street on Thursday evening after a fire broke out in a sixth-floor unit at the top of an apartment building in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. Crews worked to get water on the flames as they responded to reports of a fire inside the residence.
posted about the incident at 6:22 p.m. local time Thursday, saying crews were on scene reporting a fire in the top-floor unit and were working to put water on the flames. The department posts news and events from Seattle Fire and directs the public to call 911 for emergencies.
Stack House Apartments is a seven-story building with 278 eco-friendly units at 1280 Harrison Street that opened in 2013 next to the historic Supply Laundry Building, according to local context compiled by Timberlane Partners. The complex was developed by Vulcan Real Estate.
A Fast-Changing Corner of South Lake Union
Timberlane Partners acquired the Stack House apartment portfolio at 1280 Harrison Street in June 2024 for $115 million, after institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan had previously bought the property in 2015 for $149.5 million. The off-market deal valued the property at roughly $413,670 per unit, per the firm's own account of the transaction.
The South Lake Union and Denny Triangle areas have seen technology-driven growth.
Cooking Fires Remain a Common Culprit in Seattle Apartments
It is not yet known what sparked Thursday's fire. But citywide data offer some context for how such fires often start in multi-family buildings. A Seattle Fire Department bulletin distributed in May 2025 found that unattended cooking is the leading cause of residential fires in the city, with more than a third of fires in multi-residential buildings originating on kitchen stovetops, most often ignited by grease, cooking oils, or combustible items left too close to the burner.
Seattle Fire Department operational data also tracks structure fires. The department responded to 111,319 emergency calls in 2023, with medical incidents making up roughly three-quarters of that total call volume.
Sprinklers, Stairwells and High-Rise Fire Rules
Buildings with occupied floors more than 75 feet above the level of fire department vehicle access are classified as high-rises under Chapter 93 of the Seattle Fire Code. Seattle Fire Code standards also bar residents from propping open stairwell exit doors in apartment buildings, since stairwells must stay sealed off to isolate smoke and toxic gases and serve as safe evacuation routes during an active fire.
Harrison Street has seen major fire responses before. In June 2021, the Seattle Fire Department sent 94 firefighters, 10 engines, and five ladder trucks to battle a two-alarm fire in a vacant commercial building on the 500 block of Harrison Street near Seattle Center, an incident where intense heat and structural instability forced crews to shift to defensive exterior water streams, according to MyNorthwest. The 1200 block itself was the site of a separate incident in September 2020, when storage units inside an apartment complex there were burglarized over three consecutive days, with surveillance video capturing a suspect kicking open doors to remove thousands of dollars in stored property, including an entire 13-look fashion collection, as reported by KING 5.
