Officers catch arsonist responsible for starting eight fires around North Seattle

Meghan Walker Ballard

A 34-year-old man has been arrested for setting at least eight fires around North Seattle Tuesday morning.

The first reports came in at 5:30am on Nov. 20 — Seattle Police say numerous witness called 911 to report fires in Phinney Ridge, Wallingford, and Green Lake Park.

The first fire was started in a small pile of leaves outside a Phinney Ridge home, which was extinguished quickly but damaged the home’s fence. Another fire destroyed a shed and scorched a Wallingford home, according to SPD. They say another four fires were set around Green Lake Park, damaging trees and an outhouse.

It didn’t take long to find him — using surveillance videos and descriptions from witnesses, officers spotted the suspect at 7am, still hanging around Green Lake Park. After a brief pursuit on foot, they took the man into custody, and found another three sites that the man had prepped for burning.

The man has been booked into King County Jail for investigation of arson, burglary, and a felony warrant.

99 thoughts to “Officers catch arsonist responsible for starting eight fires around North Seattle”

          2. I watched videos on his Facebook and he apparently had a room somewhere.

      1. Your a moron who is assuming that every criminal is homeless. That guy belongs behind bars. No doubt no one is defending him. But it just sounds ignorant assuming he’s probably homeless. Cause only homeless people commit rape and arson. Right? Thats like saying black people are rapists and arsonists. It’s stereotyping and just plain ignorant

    2. Actually, Roger, the mockery is not directed towards the homeless population, but towards those who dare to show compassion and anger towards King County’s current homelessness crisis. These comments conflate the fact of some of our neighbors wanting to find solutions for ending homelessness with blanket acceptance of the actions of a few homeless individuals, which when considered for even a moment, shows its simpleminded absurdity.

      1. Sonia. You clearly are out of touch. These are not actions of a “few” junkies. There’s been rapes, stabbings, fires, assaults, and deaths, all from junkies. You clearly don’t live in Ballard.

          1. If you think these junkies won’t harm you for some heroin, it is you who is delusional.

        2. Really so how do you know that they were all junkies? Do you know them? All of those crimes have also been committed people who are not junkies as well. Narrow mindedness will not save you or your neighborhood from crime happening. I remember when there was a rash of homeless people getting shot while they were asleep by 2 men who were supposed regular people like you probably consider yourself. Yes regular people are also capable of these horrible commiting rape arson murder and theft and assault.

          1. Please see prior comments. There have been plenty of severe crimes around Ballard from homeless junkies like you

        1. Careful with that logic in these parts. If you apply it to other issues then you’re well on your way to being labelled a “fascist”. Remember, words are as bad as violence but actual violence is the fault of “capitalism/cishet white males/racism” and never the fault of bad parents or the decisions of the perpetrator. In other words, if you see something wrong, it’s really YOUR FAULT it happened. See how the Social Justice Cancer works?

          Get woke!

    3. It’s really the city “leadership” that we’re mocking, for turning a blind eye to the problem and telling us everything’s fine, that we’re just pearl clutching NIMBY’s. But if your concern is for a homeless pyro from out of state instead of his victims, then there’s no reaching you.

    5. I can gleefully mock you, Roger Aldridge. Tell me, how is the weather up there on your holier-than-thou perch today? Would you like a hug with a side of Social Justice?

  4. Why can’t they say what it is. A junkie started these fires and the city will do nothing and neither will all of you idiots defending the junkies.

    1. So what’s your solution? I see that you obviously have fixed homelessness elsewhere and now you’ve come to save us… So enlighten me please.

        1. I agree with the sentiment, but more seriously: those mentally competent to work should be offered (& required) to work; the mentally ill must be institutionalized and taken off the street; any sane and physically able person refusing work will be put in jail/forced labor. All our prisons should be reformed to resemble work camps with Marine Corp-style discipline.

        2. How about affordable housing ? Like it was 5 and 10 years ago. You know every homeless person came from somewhere they all did something before they got there. It takes a certain kind of person to commit arson or murder or rape. That is someone who is beyond addiction to drugs. Arsonist are on a way different plain. And not every junkie is capable of those things. And not every homeless person is a junkie. Or a criminal. I dont blame everyone who is tired of the property crime or the trash that homeless people tend to leave everywhere. Including the needles all over. Its gross. I dont blame people for feeling unsafe because all of these things are happening. As much as it cost to buy a house in seattle i would have a real problem with a all of these things too. But trying to group in one particular group of people and blame it all on that cause it is an easy lazy solution to the problem. You assume that the streets are safer with out homeless people. Ha ha! You don’t a frame of reference i guess. Hatred and discrimination only feeds the violence. And it solves nothing jails and prison only breeds a more jaded and lost person and it is a revolving door and guess who pays to house them? You tax payers. Maybe if the city would quit catering to the Amazon google and Microsoft people it wouldnt be such an ugly place. Not everyone is qualified to have jobs like that people cant afford to pay the high rents. And when you see families with babies and children living on the streets you think they are just giving out free housing. Now that is delusional.

          1. Here we go again with the ridiculous notion that we should just give all the junkies and tweakers free housing and everything would be fine. First of all, they don’t deserve it and second, they don’t want it. You could cut the price of housing to a tiny fraction of what it is today and they’d still be living in tents and tarps in our parks and green belts and committing crimes.

            Cities on the Eastside like Redmond and Bellevue have significantly higher house prices. Yet you don’t see rows of tents and mounds of trash and drug addled zombies wandering all over the place there, do you?

          2. Oh they are there too. And the rent has always been high there. It hasnt always been high here. And your right the ones who choose not to help themselves dont deserve it. But there are some people who do deserve it like the ones trying to get help and the ones who are maybe victims who might be fleeing but in the midst of it all made a bad choice and ended up falling through the cracks. It happens and it happens a lot. Im not saying any of the ” junkie” behavior is acceptable. Not at all it cost a lot to live here and everyone shoukd feel safe and not have to worry they shouldnt have to look at all the tents and litter and used needles everywhere. It’s gross. No one is defending that. But the reality is that you cant go around assuming that every criminal is just a junkie or that every junkie is a hooker or a arsonist or a murderer. Cause its simply not true. And maybe if you dont like the reality of what this city has become than be proactive, and come up with solutions. Or be a bitter bitching victim and do nothing. But jails hardly work as any kind of solution. Most junkies have been to jail for something or if they havent they probably will and it will fix nothing. I didnt say give anyone housing either. So tell me then if a junkie wanted to get clean and become a better person where would they go in a community with so much hate ? Where would they go to get help? What about the homeless vets or the women who are fleeing a domestic violence situation or a teenager who is safe on the streets cause they are getting abused at home by a parent. See there is a lot of homeless people that arent junkies too. And if they were giving out housing all over dont you think that they would be the first to get in do you think they dont want help.

      2. It’s simple. Enforce laws that already exist. Drugs are illegal, do drugs and go to jail. Harass people on the street, go to jail. Park in a no parking zone, vehicle gets impounded. Homeless encampments are illegal, enforce the law. Peeing/defacating and indecent exposure in public is illegal=fine or jail. Starting fires to endanger the public is illegal=jail. Hitting someone on the head with a baseball bat is attempted homicide and you should go to jail. Breaking into people’s houses while they sleep is illegal and you should go to jail. Slashing tires with a knife is illegal and you should go to jail. Stabbing someone in the chest is attempted homicide and you should go to jail.

        Refusing housing when you are a junkie should be illegal but it’s not.
        You see. Real homeless people do not do these things. Real homeless people eat out of garbage cans, and don’t want to be on the streets. These junkies you have created are criminals. Nothing more. Nothing less.

        1. Do you have any sense of the cost of keeping someone in prison? I won’t bring up morality, b/c that doesn’t seem important to you.

          3. I’m happy to pay the cost to incarcerate criminals. Don’t try to scare me with that. We pay nowhere near the highest property taxes in the country so if we bump them up and it’s all to fund prisons and prison-based mental health and addiction recovery services, I am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT down. Bring it on. Where’s my checkbook…I can’t write that check fast enough.

      2. Have you seen his rap sheet? Catch and release, over and over. Facing charges…boo hoo hoo. He should be facing decades of prison with whatever mental health and addiction services he may need.

      1. There you go with that clear thinking again. You’re liable to get taxed out of your house or shunned if you keep it up, Amigo!
        Also, if you’re too on the mark here in the comment section they will just delete you. Ultimately this site is for sharing on Fakebook, so they gotta keep up appearances that the social justice cancer isn’t ruining the West Coast.

      1. Also. For those of you who don’t know. There is an app you can download in your app store called “find it fix it.” You can report homeless junkie encampments right from your phone. Makes it easy to report the junkies on your way to work!

        1. Don’t bother with the app. Word is it goes into a black hole where cronies of Mike Obrien and Lorena Gonzalez edit out the requests to their liking. Have you had successful response from reporting on the app?

          Phone calls to police and city council are the only way to get her done.

          1. I’ve noticed it helps the response if I add pictures. I sent in several requests for the 900 Leary mess with pictures. Same with the RV’s parking in the area. If you take a pic of license plate and select abandon vehicle, I think sometimes the two truck comes by when no one is home. I have also seen police actually respond after making several requests for the RV’s on 48th and 8th by the brewery. Sidenote…there is still a bicycle chop shop that is active in that area. It’s the old maroon van that’s spray painted. I’m too afraid to get close and take a picture…
            I also took pics of the encampment that was on Market St by Market Arms and sent it in with a description of the junkies and what they do to people. Shortly thereafter, the camp was gone.
            I have no idea if I’m the only one reporting at that time. But it did appear that taking pictures helped solicit a response.
            I think the city knows that if there’s photographic evidence and something happens from the area, they might be held responsible?

          2. I also do it pretty regularly and flood their inbox repeatedly with requests. You can even save a template and do it on your computer and it takes about 5 minutes. When the Leary mess was around I sent in 4-6 requests weekly.

          6. When the 900 Leary camp was broken up last time, they moved over to the 14th Ave boat launch (next to the maritime school). The Compass Team cleared them out again on Tuesday of this week and it looks like they just all refused services again and went back to their previous location.

          8. they make occasional effort to clean camps and move people. An attorney told me that’s why there’s been no lawsuit. Its difficult to sue a city. in any case I’m happy you’ve seen some results using it.

          9. Do you ever think that maybe you could be wrong and maybe your harassing someone who maybe be homeless because they are a fleeing dv victim? Who maybe isnt a junkie? You could be wrong about some of these people that your taking pictures of. I mean really. I get it if you are reporting people who have been troublesome. But you are seeking out people who just might be homeless because it is safer to be there than home. Or it could be that they couldnt afford 2000 for a micro studio for themselves and 3 kids. In fact that behavior is kinda harassing dont you think. I mean really taking pictures of a tent or RV that maybe is there but not harming anyone. Your gonna take pics and call the cops a 100 times? Do you tell them that every picture you take is homeless junkies who at doing bad things to you? Maybe its because of your behavior the cops quit responding or take longer to do anything about the actually criminals polluting your neighborhoods. I mean really . come on. Report tje criminals and junkies when you actually see them doing something worth calling for you cant just call all the time based on suspicion.

          10. Honestly, I don’t care anymore. If the navigation team shows up for a sweep and people refuse housing, they should go to jail or be shipped to Australia for all I care. As I said before, a REAL homeless person would take housing assistance immediately. These junkies you created are criminals. Nothing more. Nothing less.

          11. I have phoned SPD non-emergency for residential-parked RVs (immediately) and reported suspicious activity. This resulted in a quite quick response from SPD officers. In this case, the RV had a car associated with it that had fake plates and was towed.

            You just need “suspicious activity” (which is all of it, really).

          12. Suspicious in your opinion is anyone in an RV or look poor or homeless?!? Right. So your gonna call the cops and tell them so they can run out and hopefully tow away a car maybe associated with the RV. Is the RV still there? Is your problem solved. Maybe call 20 more times and tell them they look suspicious maybe they will tow the RV for ya. Or take a picture cause it gonna prove they did something wrong. Way to save the day. Hey I bet that if they quit getting flooded with bullshit calls maybe they could focus on the criminals that are or have done something they deserve to go to jail for. Really how can they keep up with this non sense while trying to enforce the laws that actually have been broken.

        1. Good advice about calling the non emergency line to report suspicious activity. I’m going to try it. There’s a few junkies I reported in the app today. I think I’ll pair it with some phone calls. Thanks.

    1. it was just on KIRO FM… presumably more info to come…

      The arson who threw molotov cocktails at the south end church several weeks ago was also reportedly “homeless” and had been seen “hanging around the camp”

      The full extent of BUM ARSON FIRES is just now finally coming to light. There appear to be bum arson fires every week, mainly from squatters in building slated for demo or under construction.

      Media must investigate/report on the full extent of this problem before someone burns to death.

  9. Homeless guy who moved here from Florida and had a felony warrent. Big surprise there. Get rid of them, please, SPD. The sane among us support you.

  11. This is your city under (nearly) full female and diversity LIBERAL leadership.
    Let’s see if maybe the results would be different if people were hired/elected based on qualifications and merit instead just to score rainbow Twitter points. Durkan sucks, it doesn’t matter who she sleeps with.

  12. The bourgie comments in here are disgusting. A lot of you have the privilege of owning private property and stay in your fancy homes while poor people, who are often queer and of color, are dying in the streets. Now you have someone who is calling out for help in a very visible way and all of you can focus on his class. I hope the revolution comes and all of you find yourselves without houses and this poor person has a warm place to sleep. I thought I would never see my Ballard turn into another Republican Trump festering hole, but here we are.

    1. No, Ballard has turned into Crapitol Hill and those of us who left that dump are pissed that idiots like you allowed the junkies to ruin a family-friendly neighborhood with your far left commie agenda. Trump has nothing to do with it, or Republicans, for that matter. You will hear the same things spoken by the SERVICE WORKERS AT YOUR LOCAL GROCERY if you manage get them speaking about working a night shift in Ballard these days, instead of just foisting your derelict, Stranger-reader Social Justice tax scheme on them. The “bougies” here are you guys, Genius!

      Grow up!

      1. A few things;
        – nice homophobic insult
        – “idiots” like us are just trying to help our fellow humans, not boot lick
        – family friendly is a dog whistle for white-friendly
        – I’d rather be called a communist than called a traitor to my people
        – and yes, Trump and the growing number of Republicans in Ballard has everything to do with it

        1. On top of being a commie idiot who ruins neighborhoods, you hallucinate “homophobic insults”. You fools are 1000x more upset about Trump than MURRAY THE PEDOPHILE. And to the extent that you CHOSE JUNKIES OVER NEIGHBORS, you ARE THE TRAITOR. Tell me more about your “no borders” and getting them all voting and get back to me about “loving your country”.
          You guys are “global citizens” with no allegiance to anything except Hollywood actors and their sycophant politicos waving rainbow flags to steal our money and hedge against their incompetence.

          YOU ARE WHY SEATTLE IS GETTING RUINED. I’ve seen family friendly places in TURKEY, CHINA, JAPAN but somehow you call me “racist” because I’ve watched Ballard get ruined. Pathetic and dishonest, thy name is LIBERAL.

          2. Well, I hope you guys stocked lots of fuel for generators and TONS OF FATTY FOODS because the “revolutionaries” in the woke brigade seems to need about 5000 calories per day each.

            And those are sedentary calorie requirements. If your commie revolution entailed marching or holding positions, the ones that don’t suffer crippling anxiety attacks will simply have heart attacks and/or severe diabetic symptoms.

            Not to mention the fact that the “woke revolutionaries” will be shooting each other once somebody cracks a joke deemed “offensive/problematic”. Oh, and who will feed your cat babies while you are out fighting the “Nazis”? Did you think about that one, Smartypants?

            You seem to forget even the commies back in the day were fit, healthy, and *gasp* masculine for the most part.

          3. You and I both know you won’t call the police because you are a wanted junkie with a history of arrests. Not to mention you probably don’t trust the police anyways. And in case you haven’t heard, most of the cops have left this town because of your junkie friends in the city clowncil.

          4. Good luck with that. They’ll tell you what they tell the rest of us who call for actual crimes and emergencies: “Their hands are tied.”

    2. “I hope the revolution comes and all of you find yourselves without houses and this poor person has a warm place to sleep.”

      Aw, the poor little fella just needs a warm place to sleep. Yeah, give him a match and some accelerants, and he’ll warm right up. Just pray the fuel isn’t your “priviledged” home.

    4. Greg. You sound like a junkie because only junkies would defend each other with junkie logic. This isn’t “your ballard.” The junkies own it now thanks to morons like you.
      Please re read everything you said. You are siding with criminals. You must be a criminal yourself. Kindly turn yourself in please. You need help.

  13. RUH ROH, another criminal, here in Ballard? OMG. Without this chaos how would our feckless leaders separate us from our wallets? And I thought compassion just meant spending your neighbors hard earned money. Wagging your moistened finger into the rarified air to make decisions is so much fun.

  14. It is so interesting to see how many people are willing to engage in a debate when they have no intention of hearing value in the views of their opponent. There is always truth in both sides. How did we lose sight of our ability to engage with one another to find a common solution? That’s not a question so you can blame someone, it’s a question that will hopefully cause you to ask yourself; if I was willing to work with my enemy could we improve the current circumstances?

    1. That’s the thing with people who see these junkies as vulnerable. They are too ignorant to see the truth. Good luck talking sense into them. As you can see from the comments, people side with criminals for some reason. Where’s the logic there?

    1. Hi, thanks for your support! I, the one and only Mike O’Brine, have found myself once again censored by the powers that be at MyBallard. This makes me wonder if I’ve not struck too truthful a chord, and therefore, have exposed the truth about the dark underbelly of our Social Justice Revolution! Get Woke, Friends, to the Censorship! What are you afraid of, MyBallard? And Remember, Vote Salty, Vote O’Brine 2019!

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