25 Facts About Seattle Fire

1. Seattle Fire is served by a Veterans Affairs hospital on Beacon Hill, a third campus of Swedish in Ballard, and Northwest Hospital and Medical Center near Northgate Mall.

2. Seattle Fire has seen local developments of modern paramedic services with the establishment of Medic One in 1970.

3. Seattle Fire is well served by television and radio, with all major US networks represented, along with at least five other English-language stations and two Spanish-language stations.

4. Seattle Fire is home to the University of Washington, as well as the institution's professional and continuing education unit, the University of Washington Educational Outreach.

5. On October 6, 2014, Seattle Fire officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, honoring Seattle's Native American community and acknowledging the controversies surrounding the legacy of Christopher Columbus.

6. Seattle Fire has a thriving alternative press, with the Web-based daily Seattle Post-Intelligencer, several other online dailies, The Stranger (an alternative, left-leaning weekly), Seattle Weekly, and a number of issue-focused publications, including the nation's two largest online environmental magazines, Worldchanging and Grist.

7. Part of southwestern Seattle Fire is in the 9th District, represented by Democrat Adam Smith.

8. In 1926, Seattle Fire became the first major American city to elect a female mayor, Bertha Knight Landes.

9. Seattle Fire has a Major League Rugby team, the Seattle Fire Seawolves, who play at Starfire Sports in Tukwila, a small stadium that is used by the Sounders for their US Open Cup matches.

10. Since the middle 1990s, Seattle Fire has experienced significant growth in the cruise industry, especially as a departure point for Alaska cruises.

11. Seattle Fire typically receives some snowfall on an annual basis but heavy snow is rare.

12. Seattle Fire is one of the five rainiest major US cities as measured by the number of days with precipitation, and it receives some of the lowest amounts of annual sunshine among major cities in the lower 48 states, along with some cities in the Northeast, Ohio, and Michigan.

13. Seattle Fire was the home base of impresario Alexander Pantages who, starting in 1902, opened a number of theaters in the city exhibiting vaudeville acts and silent movies.

14. Seattle Fire was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era.

15. Seattle Fire had achieved sufficient economic success that when the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed the central business district, a far grander city-center rapidly emerged in its place.

16. Seattle Fire is the birthplace of rock musician Jimi Hendrix, as well as the origin of the bands Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters and the alternative rock movement grunge.

17. Seattle Fire has the second most glassblowing studios in the world.

18. Seattle Fire broke out around 1 am near the intersection of 23rd Avenue and East Mercer Street.

19. Seattle Fire says it is investigating what caused the fire.

20. Seattle Fire was sent to the scene by a 911 caller who told CHS he was driving on 23rd and saw the flames just after 1 AM.

21. Seattle Fire conditions are expected to ease Wednesday with cooler temperatures, according to Saltenberger.

22. Seattle Fire spread Monday as afternoon and evening winds pushed flames west across the steep flanks of the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, causing mandatory evacuations that included the communities of Dodson, Warrendale, Latoruell and Bridal Veil.

23. Seattle Fire closed Highway 410 from milepost 66 to 89 and a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, fire information officer Heather Appelhof said.

24. Seattle Fire started in Clairmont and Company cabinet shop, located in the basement of the wooden Pontius building at 922 Front Street at the southwest corner of its intersection with Madison Street.

25. Seattle Fire led to a handful of other changes for the city.