Quick Action Keeps Fire Under Control Woman Slows Blaze In Downtown Complex Until Firefighters Arrive; Arson Suspected

A boring movie may have saved the residents of Spokane’s Seymour Apartments on Monday morning.

Fifth-floor resident Christy Ducham, who fell asleep with her boyfriend while watching a video, awoke just in time to discover a fire raging in the downtown building’s elevator.

Firefighters said it looks like arson.

Ducham, 20, slowed the blaze with a fire extinguisher and called 911 before the flames spread too far.

Her quick thinking likely saved lives, said Donna Rudy, who manages the 54-unit building with her husband, Glen.

“I’ve been saying we have an angel in the building,” Donna Rudy said. “This isn’t the first fire she’s found here.”

It was lucky Ducham found this one.

The woman, who works as a hotel housekeeper, said her boyfriend, Preston Ashe, dropped by to watch a movie Sunday night. The pair nodded off in front of the television and didn’t wake up until about 3 a.m. Monday.

Ducham said she was walking Ashe to the elevator when they noticed smoke pouring out of the shaft. When the doors opened, there was a burning box inside.

“It was popping real loud, and it smelled like someone was using a glue gun,” she said.

Ducham said she ran back to her apartment to call for help, then grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and hosed down the flames. She cut her hand slightly when she broke the glass case holding the extinguisher, she said.

She and Ashe then ran back to her apartment to grab her 15-month-old son, Marcus Ducham.

“By the time we got back to the elevator, flames were shooting out again,” she said.

Firefighters arrived to find fire and heavy smoke spreading through the fifth floor, Battalion Chief Joe Stapleton said.

The building’s fire alarm was sounding, but firefighters had to evacuate four people who refused to leave their apartments, Stapleton said.

“We’ve had a lot of false alarms here,” Rudy said. “After awhile, it’s like crying wolf, you know?”

Stapleton said more than 45 firefighters fought the blaze before bringing it under control. The evacuated residents, who were unharmed, spent the night at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Rudy said they should be able to return to their homes today. Ducham said she won’t call the Seymour home much longer.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened here. People are always setting fires. Somebody set a couch on fire outside not long ago,” she said. “I’m moving.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo