Photos: Ballinger fire

By Diane Hettrick

Jeff Hoffman had a much better view of the fire in Ballinger Saturday than he was comfortable with, since it was right in his backyard.

But we appreciate the dramatic photos he got and shared with us.

I was in the neighborhood at the time. I had just driven up Ballinger and gone into Thriftway on a bright, sunny day. I bought one item and when I was checking out there were sirens from what was clearly more than one vehicle.

I walked into the parking lot and there was a haze of smoke covering everything south of Ballinger Village. Then I saw the huge plume of gray smoke rising up in the air and moving south across Ballinger Way and into the trees.

About that time two more fire vehicles, from Snohomish county, came roaring by.

Jeff's photos would have been taken a few moments later, as the gray smoke is dispersed, rather than a solid plume.

Since there was no snow that day, I am assuming that the white covering on the roof is fire suppressant.

I am still surprised at how quickly the smoke filled the neighborhood. I could not have been in the store more than ten minutes.

I was not surprised but it was still impressive how quickly the fire departments responded and got the fire under control.

No one was hurt, including the fire fighters.

UPDATE: Shoreline Fire says the building was non-residential, so no residents in the complex were injured or displaced - and no damage to residents' possessions.

The building was a service building in a multi-family residential complex in the 2200 block of NE 201st Pl in the Ballinger neighborhood of Shoreline.

Updated 10-13-2017