Two killed in Valley house fire

A house fire near Upriver Dam killed two people early Friday.

Firefighters searched the smoke-filled house and found the body of John J. Gregg, 76, and the body of a woman. The woman had not been identified late Friday afternoon.

“I just think it was tragic,” said Gregg’s daughter, Judy Reese.

The fire and deaths appear to be accidental, fire and police officials said. The fire started at the north end of the house near the kitchen and dining room. Both bodies were found in a bedroom.

Gregg lived in the pink house at 2601 N. Upriver Drive for many years. Neighbors call the area no-man’s-land because it’s just beyond Spokane’s city limits near Upriver Dam. City and Spokane County Fire District 9 crews fought the fire.

A city crew arrived first and began searching along the walls to the right of the front door, said Doug Bleeker, deputy chief at Fire District 9, the agency in charge of investigating the fire.

Firefighters turned back when they came to an area where the floor had collapsed. When firefighters searched the other direction, they found a body in the doorway to the bedroom, Bleeker said.

A neighbor whose husband arrived at the house before firefighters said Gregg’s body was carried out first. Firefighters then found the body of a woman in the bed, according to the neighbor.

Reese said a chaplain who came to notify her of Gregg’s death Friday said the death probably wasn’t painful.

“They were passed out and got smoke, and I guess that’s better than him burning,” Reese said. “I don’t want anybody to suffer.”

Reese said she did not know her father well, because she lived with her mother and stepfather while growing up. Reese said she saw Gregg recently and he seemed to be doing well.

Gregg was a retired railroad worker from a large Idaho family, Reese said. Gregg and his late wife, Zola, sold their house to a neighbor about 20 years ago but were allowed to continue living there.

Gregg was a regular at the Capitol tavern in Hillyard. A woman at the bar Friday afternoon said she’d known Gregg for 30 years.

She described him as a classy man who loved country music, dressed well and was generous when he had money.

The fire appears to have been accidental, although it remains under investigation, said Spokane County sheriff’s Lt. Bill Rose.

“There’s nothing at this point that indicates foul play,” Rose said. “It looked like an accidental fire.

There were no smoke detectors in the house, which Bleeker said could have alerted those inside.

“With smoke detectors, they may have had a different ending in this story,” Bleeker said.