last updated 7:39 p.m. on June 24

At 11:15 p.m. Tuesday night, the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) received a call that Professional Copy ‘n Print, a copy store that sits on the corner of 42nd Street NE and the Ave, was up in flames.

SFD put out the fire by 12:15 a.m. after evacuating all of the tenants in the above apartments – some through windows and down ladders.

The source of the fire was electrical.

“It was a service cord,” said Tom Richardson, chief of Battalion 6 at the SFD. “The cord that was run appears to be overheated essentially by drawing too much power out of the cord.”

Mohammed Azmath, the owner of Professional Copy ‘n Print, said he was shocked and upset upon arriving on the scene; however, after conversations with firefighters, he is confident that his insurance will cover the estimated $600,000 in damages: $200,000 of the structure and $400,000 from the content in the building.

The surrounding businesses sustained no damage.

“I’m relieved that our business is okay, and we’ll be open tomorrow as usual,” said Doug Campbell, owner of Bulldog News, which sits alongside Professional Copy ‘n Print.

The apartments above sustained only minor damage, which was caused by firefighters kicking down doors and searching rooms for people.

“We had to evacuate the floors above and force entry to a number of units upstairs,” Richardson said. “So they’re affected that they have damaged doors and smoked up apartments.”

Firefighters agreed that there was little Azmath could’ve done to have prevented the fire, which was accidental and unpredictable.

“It’s something you cannot detect,” said Karim Habib, owner of Ave Copy Center. “I’m not going to go check every single wire in my store. You just have to be careful.”

Nobody was injured, and tenants were able to return to their apartments shortly after the fire was put out. Firefighters believe that Azmath’s business can be back up and running again in 30 to 45 days.

Reach News Editor Eric Staples at news@dailyuw.com