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

Fire In Barn Claims 15 Goats

Fifteen goats died early Sunday in a fire that ripped through the barn where they were kept.

A neighbor discovered the fire in the barn behind the house at 26505 E. Rowan about 4 a.m. and called firefighters. The barn was already engulfed by flames, said Eric Olson, Valley Fire deputy fire marshal.

Firefighters contained the blaze to the barn. No one was injured.

A heat lamp that hung from the ceiling and was used to keep 10 kid goats and five grown goats warm is suspected of sparking the fire.

Damage to the barn was so severe that it was impossible to determine how the lamp malfunctioned, but Olson said there was no other possible ignition source.

The fire was raging out of control when neighbor Leah Armstrong’s call woke Mike and Carole Lusink, who owned the barn.

“When Carole looked outside it was fully going and the roof was already beginning to come down,” Olson said.

Carole Lusink estimates the damage at $15,000, Olson said.

Several tons of hay stored in the barn also were lost in the fire. Carole Lusink had planned to acclimate the goats to the temperature before moving them outside, Olson said.

Man arrested in car theft

A 36-year-old man was arrested early Tuesday after leaving the scene of a burglary in a stolen car, sheriff’s deputies said.

Kevin L. Sanger, who gave a Spokane address, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of first-degree possession of stolen property and second-degree burglary.

Sanger was driving a stolen Subaru when a Washington State Patrol trooper stopped him about midnight near Sullivan Road and Sprague Avenue, said sheriff’s deputy Dave Reagan.

Deputies investigating a burglary at a nearby construction site brought a witness to the scene of the traffic stop who identified Sanger as the thief, Reagan said.

A woman in the car when the trooper pulled it over was questioned and released. Detectives are still investigating her involvement, Reagan said.

Several tools and other items taken from a shed and storage box at a construction site at Fourth Avenue and Sullivan Road were recovered from the car, Reagan said.

, DataTimes