A massive three-alarm fire ripped through historic downtown Bothell on Friday morning, gutting one building after another and sending huge flames billowing into the darkened sky that could be seen for miles.
By mid-morning, firefighters were still battling the blaze as it flared up repeatedly and threatened more structures. The fire broke out around 3 a.m. and spread rapidly as gusty winds fanned the flames.
Firefighters descended on the scene from all over the region, working desperately to prevent the blaze from taking any more structures in the city at the northern tip of Lake Washington.
Evacuations were under way, several streets and highways were closed and a college campus was shut down temporarily due to power outages.
"The whole main street was going up," said one witness. "The whole sky was just bright orange. And I live 15 blocks from here," said another witness, Lars Collins. "You could see it rising over."