Spokane Man Dies In House Fire One Of His Brothers Is Severely Injured And Another Escapes Blaze That May Have Been Sparked By Fireworks

Independence Day fireworks may have ignited a house fire that killed a Spokane man Friday morning.

Al Reines died in the blaze that destroyed the 90-year-old rental home at 1628 E. Hartson.

Reines, thought to be in his mid-40s, was sleeping inside the yellow clapboard house with brothers Bob and Ray Jeffries when the blaze began about 2 a.m.

Neighbors pounding on the walls and a blaring smoke alarm roused the trio as the flames spread, melting the glass in the front windows and eating away the roof.

Only Ray Jeffries got out unharmed.

Firefighters found Reines unconscious in his bedroom. He later was pronounced dead at Deaconess Medical Center.

Bob Jeffries was overcome by smoke and fumes and collapsed in a rear bedroom as he tried to climb out a window, firefighters said.

He wasn’t breathing when firefighters pulled him to safety and was given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

He was taken to Deaconess to be treated for numerous burns and was later driven to Fairchild Air Force Base Hospital for treatment in the base’s hyperbolic chamber.

The pressurized chamber, used to treat people whose lungs are damaged by fire or poison, forces oxygen directly into body cells.

Bob Jeffries later was taken back to Deaconess, where he was listed in serious condition Friday afternoon.

Fire Marshal Gary Miller said investigators don’t know what caused the blaze, but neighbors and firefighters combed the area looking for remnants of bottle rockets Friday morning.

At least one spent bottle rocket was found nearby, and residents reported hearing and seeing fireworks in the area in the hours before the blaze.

The house sits on a ridge overlooking Liberty Park.

Debra Dumaw, part-owner of the house, said firefighters told her the blaze probably started outside the house, possibly by a bottle rocket landing on the roof.

“That’s what they’re investigating,” she said.

It is illegal to set off fireworks in the city and county of Spokane.

Investigators from the city fire department and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sifted through ash and soot inside the house looking for clues.

Paul A. Reinhardt, Dumaw’s boyfriend and co-owner of the house, described the men as “just regular old bachelors” who took good care of the yard, planting flowers and small trees.

Firefighters strung crime scene tape from those trees Friday morning to keep back onlookers.

Late Friday morning, an animal control officer collected several white rabbits the men kept in cages in back of the house and took them away.

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