Five structure fires among week’s worth of calls

Between Aug. 7 and Monday, emergency personnel at Spokane Valley fire handled 208 calls, including a kitchen fire at A & W, a manufactured home fire and a rescue from the side of a cliff in Mirabeau Park.

Five reports of structure fires that week included a kitchen fire at 8:30 p.m., Aug. 10, in the A & W Restaurant near Sprague and Sullivan.

No one was injured, but the fire caused an estimated $20,000 in damage, said department spokesman Bill Clifford.

Later that night, firefighters extinguished another fire in a manufactured home at the 5800 block of East Fourth Avenue just before midnight. The fire remains suspicious and is being investigated, he said.

It caused an estimated $5,000 in damage and caused one person to be taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation after he re-entered the building several times, Clifford said.

Other fire reports turned out to be recreational fires, and Clifford said he wants to remind people that charcoal barbecues and chimeneas are the only places backyard fires are allowed during the present burn ban.

There were 13 brush fires reported, which included the department sending engines to assist in fighting a fire in Cheney.

There was one vehicle fire and one trash fire that involved children setting a fire in a culvert near Liberty Lake Road Aug. 8, Clifford said.

Firefighters also rescued a young woman from the side of rock formation in Mirabeau Park.

The number of fire alarms was down, with six reported during the week.

There were 18 vehicle accidents reported, half of which required trips to area hospitals.

At 2 p.m. Monday a multiple-car accident on the 25100 block of East Wellesley Avenue sent three people to the hospital, Clifford said.

The week also brought two service calls to the department, four hazardous materials calls and 157 emergency medical calls, he said.