Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Homes Protected By Fire District 9 In/Around: Seven Mile, Nine Mile Falls

Bruce Krasnow Staff writer

A stretch of property in the Seven Mile area where a home burned on New Year’s Day is now protected by a fire district.

The area, which hugs the Spokane River near Riverside State Park, has 30 homes, whose owners have filed a petition to be annexed into Fire District 9.

The fire district board of commissioners agreed to offer the homeowners protection until the annexation process is final - perhaps in a few months, Chief Bob Anderson said.

One property owner whose family lives in the area, Bob McLennan, said residents in the area were shocked when they discovered they didn’t have fire protection. The home of his former son-in-law, Jeff Blackwell, burned to the ground on Jan. 1.

No firefighters responded because the home was outside fire district boundaries.

“We’re feeling pretty good about it now,” McLellan said. “We’re protected.”

Anderson said the fire district can protect the new area with existing resources, so homeowners there will pay the same tax rate as everyone else in the district - $2.68 per thousand of assessed value for 1995.

State law allows an additional rate for newly annexed areas to pay for buildings and equipment. The fire district board decided not to require that.

The Boundary Review Board must now review the request and hold a public hearing.

A larger area along Charles Road west of Nine Mile Falls has also been circulating a petition for service from Fire District 9. The area is known as Pine Bluff and has about 30 homeowners.