No Injuries in Saturday Blaze at Covenant Shores

The  responded to a single-alarm fire caused by a burning car inside an underground parking garage at the Saturday morning. 

According to MIFD Lt. Steve McCoy, an automated fire alarm alerted the Fire Department of the blaze at 7:37 a.m. Mercer Island Fire Department engines arrived within five minutes of receiving the dispatch and called for additional help once they saw heavy smoke billowing from the garage, located underneath a three-story multi-family residential building. 

Firefighters found the fire was partially controlled by the building's fire sprinkler system and smoke was being exhausted by the buildings fire exhaust fans — giving the appearance of a larger fire than actually existed.

Local firefighters, later assisted by firefighters from Bellevue and Eastside Fire and Rescue, limited damage to the car itself and extinguished the blaze at 7:59 a.m. There no injuries to firefighters or residents. A total of 11 fire apparatus were used at this incident and 27 firefighters. This included 7 firefighters on duty at Mercer Island, 16 firefighters from Bellevue and 4 firefighters from Eastside Fire and Rescue.

Units not involved in firefighting activities were utilized in smoke removal, restoring the fire protection system and making sure the residents were safe.

The cause and of the fire is still being investigated. Preliminary damage estimates are limited to the car itself at $10,000.