Washington Water Power, which has since changed its name to Avista, built the city's former fire alarm center as a storage vault in 1922. The electric company leased the building to the city in the 1960s free of charge to use as a fire alarm center. Spokane's then fire chief said that underwriters had recommended that the dispatch center be moved outside of city hall to a separate, fireproof building, according to an article in the Spokane Daily Chronicle in 1966,
Section:Photo
