You know what sucks worse (physically, though perhaps not spiritually) than having to sit at a desk on a Friday afternoon and watch the carpet pill up? Getting trapped in a cement avalanche at work and needing the fire department to come dig you out. That's why we feel for this guy. He's okay now, but Seattlest's office faces the major street down which all the ambulances and cop cars raced on their way to this incident and we counted no fewer than four patrol cars and two ambulances scream past us in the last couple hours. That's a big fat hairy deal. more ›

Seattle City Hall was evacuated this morning because of a minor fire. A fluorescent light on the second floor caught on fire, causing embers to shower on nearby desks. City Hall employees tried to quell the fire with an extinguisher to no avail, so firefighters were called. This is the first fire in the new City Hall building, there was no damage reported. Employees returned to business as usual after a 20 minute evacuation, hopefully getting right back to the really important things, like naked swimmers using public pools and approving more condos. more ›

We bring you the news as it happens or a little bit later. This was about 3:50pm today: more ›

We're sorry to hear that a nail salon, a chiropractic office, and a Panda Express were destroyed by a fire in Renton this morning. And glad to hear no one was hurt.

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We don't know about you, but when we were 19, we made some pretty indefensible decisions. Baking a pizza while blind drunk, then forgetting about it, causing the NYC fire department to evacuate our girlfriend's dorm while we were passed out in her bed comes to mind. more ›

Last night a record 450 teams packed into the Old Pequliar for Seattlest Trivia. Sadly we had to disqualify 432 of the squads when they would not participate in the mandatory drug testing. The remaining 18 team answered questions on tragic romances, the World Series, John C. Reilly movies, and Project Runway. more ›

Earlier this weeek we mentioned a cool map mashup that our sister site Gothamist has. They have feeds for both the police and fire departments in New York City and it makes for a really cool and really useful little application, and it's something that we'd love to have on our site here. However, we've never had a police feed in Seattle and now we don't have access to the fire department's data either. The Seattle Fire Department has decided that it's too dangerous to give the public data on 911 calls in a usable format. more ›

The Showbox had a fire this morning or last night or however you refer to the 5am hour and there's not a lot of information around right now (c'mon journalist types - we can't stand this suspense). Smoke was spotted coming from the building, sprinkler system engaged, FD arrived and extinguished something on the roof: that's about all that's out there at the moment. A spokesperson for the fire department said the fire originated on the roof and didn't penetrate into the building, but we're worried about water damage to the ceiling, sound system etc. Maybe we'll take a walk over there during lunch and find something new (despite our aversion to actual reporting). more ›

Over the weekend Seattlest visited Lincoln Park in West Seattle for the first time. At 135 acres, there was more ground to cover than we could manage after our picnic (there are five different picnic areas) -- so we decided on checking out the waterfront path. But there are three ballfields and two tennis courts, too, if you're into that kind of thing. more ›

The Ballard Library was evacuated today and searched by a haz-mat team after a librarian found something weird in the book drop that made her hands tingle. At first library personnel said it was a powder, but according to the Seattle fire department, it was a sticky substance. more ›

There's something about a good marina fire that gets Seattlest's attention like few massive insurance calamities can. This morning we were awakened by our crack team of Down South correspondants with the news that Harborview Marina in Gig Harbor was being consumed by fire. more ›

One would think it would be difficult to get trapped in Discovery Park, though. Apparently, a man who was attempting to get a better look at Monday's fireworks fell off a trail and had to spend the night in the park after failing to climb either up (too steep) or down (blackberries). more ›

Next time your bathtub BBQ goes awry the Seattle Fire Department is going to turn up at your door in spiffy new unis. Traditional black is back in vogue, replacing the tan uniforms worn by Seattle firefighters in recent years. The outfits will go above and beyond mere fashion, of course, and sport a number of technological improvements, including water-wicking inner liners and more water-resistant exteriors. The jackets are also made with a strap on the back to facilitate rescues. So much for the fireman's carry. more ›