Our first post brings bad news to the ebike community: one of our beloved ebike shops has come down in flames.

Reports have been coming in from Instagram users throughout the day that retailer Seattle E-Bikes was the victim of a fire:

Fire scene at Seattle eBike. #seattle #kingstreet #ebike #afternoon #fire #sfd #jw #rooftop A photo posted by James Crockett (@spotjames) on May 20, 2015 at 4:37pm PDT

This fire comes just a week after an ebike fire on a balcony in Ontario.

#Seattle #ebike store #fire A photo posted by taylor parsons (@tailifer) on May 20, 2015 at 3:44pm PDT

King Street e-Bike fire. #roadblock #spd #commute #jw #seattle #fire #ebike A photo posted by James Crockett (@spotjames) on May 20, 2015 at 5:14pm PDT

There has been no information released about the possible cause of the fire, though there’s no doubt that lithium batteries will feature as the prime suspects, as they’re prone to fire when improperly maintained.

The neighborhood that the fire occurred in, Pioneer Square, is largely composed of century-old, unreinforced brick or concrete buildings that are not up to modern seismic construction standards, and some of them experienced structural damage during Seattle’s 2001 Nisqually earthquake. The old age of the structures in the neighborhood might point to the possibility of an outdated electrical system being the culprit, but that’s just speculation right now.

The saddest detail: there may have been a dog inside during the fire, as the ebike retailer regularly kept an e-dog on the premises:

Second stop is an e-bike store. They have an e-dog! A photo posted by James (@goshadole) on Jan 13, 2015 at 12:16pm PST

More updates to come as they become available.

UPDATE: 5/21/15, 11:21AM

Twitter user billnordwall reports that the bike shop’s dog, Thorsson, has been found after having run out of the burning building.

He ran out of a burning building in Pioneer Square. He’s somewhere near 1st Ave b/t Pioneer Sq & pike place market. pic.twitter.com/FHA64K0QBX — Bill Nordwall (@billnordwall) May 20, 2015

Update: Thorsson has been found! Thanks for spreading the word. — Bill Nordwall (@billnordwall) May 21, 2015