King County fire investigators determined an incendiary device caused a fire that destroyed an empty house Sunday morning in the 12000 block of Southeast 196th Street in the Panther Lake area of unincorporated Kent.
Fire officials also ruled the fire suspicious and continue to investigate the incident, according to a Kent Fire Department media release.
The fire destroyed the empty and unoccupied house. There was no electrical power to the building and no other way for the fire to have started, according to fire officials. The electrical meter had previously been removed from the house.
Firefighters searched sheds, barns and other structures on the property and found them all to be empty and unoccupied.
The building was fully engulfed in flames by the time the first fire department unit arrived and already collapsing. The fire was reported at 2:21 a.m. Sunday.
Because fire had largely destroyed the house, firefighters from Kent and Renton concentrated on protecting the several other buildings on the property, which they were able to do. No one was injured fighting the fire.
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