Jennifer Coats looked out the window of her north Seattle townhouse one night in November and spotted a man inside a shelter made out of an over-sized sandwich board sign. She said he began lighting little fires inside his shelter and that bothered her.
“I saw flame, a little flame and a bigger flame,” said Coats. The shelter and little fires were between the side walk and the curb, on public property at the corner of 98th Street and Aurora Avenue North.
She did what most people would do.
“He was here for at least an hour and lit several fires, the fires were not controlled, I got concerned and called 911," she said.
What happened next surprised her.
The initial 911 operator dealt with police emergencies, so she transferred the call to member of the Seattle Fire Department.