Local News

UPDATE 5:25 P.M.| Seattle Fire found that the liquid inside the two gray 55-gallon barrels is non-hazardous.

Around 4:30 p.m. a  hazmat team approached the barrels with the highest level of security, according to Deputy Chief James Woodbury.

“We always take these things seriously,” Woodbury said. “The hand-painted “danger” sign, especially piques your interest.”

At 5:20 p.m., traffic was still being diverted from the scene as Seattle Fire  scaled down its containment zone and investigation.

EARLIER POST |

The Seattle Fire Department has shut down Westlake Avenue North at Highland Drive because of liquid leaking from two barrels labeled “danger.”

The barrels were in a locked, gated area when someone discovered the liquid and called in to report it.

We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.

A fire caused the evacuation of a Seattle hotel this afternoon.

Seattle fire crews were called to the Courtyard Seattle Lake Union on Westlake Avenue North around noon for a report of smoke coming from the seventh floor.

Seattle Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore said firefighters entered a seventh floor room and put out a fire inside a hotel room. No one was hurt.

Moore said that the blaze burned the carpet, the wall and drapes inside the room. The fire is believed to have been caused by an overheated cell-phone charger, Moore said.

Damage is estimated at $2,000.

No one was injured.

The blue Mazda sedan that collided with the South Lake Union streetcar Sunday morning around 10:20 a.m. (phone photo by Lark Turner / The Seattle Times).

A woman driving a blue Mazda sedan collided with the South Lake Union streetcar Sunday morning at the intersection of Mercer Street and Westlake Avenue North. The accident happened around 10:20 a.m.

The 31-year-old driver was transported to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition, said Kyle Moore of the Seattle Fire Department.

Officials at the scene said a witness on the streetcar said the car ran a stoplight.

The South Lake Union streetcar off its tracks after the collision (phone photo by Lark Turner / The Seattle Times).