Fire at home, surrounding trees threatened neighborhood

SEATTLE -- A large garage fire threatened to spread to other area homes and apartments Tuesday morning in the Central District.

The fire started sometime around 1 a.m. at a garage in the 800 block of 17th Avenue. The garage quickly became fully engulfed, firefighters said, and spread to area trees and singed a neighboring apartment building.

Crews called to the scene put out the fire quickly, but found a 35-year-old man in the neighboring apartment building suffering from smoke inhalation and second-degree burns. He was transported to Harborview Medical Center with serious injuries.

Fire crews were still on scene at 5 a.m. to watch for fire hot spots to make sure the blaze didn't rekindle. Seattle Fire investigators were being called to the garage in order to investigate the blaze.