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

Fire department responds to arson, vehicle crashes, house fire

In 224 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday, the Spokane Valley Fire Department did it all – from a mid-June furnace fire to a T-bone crash. Even a couple of arsons.

To a certain 2-year-old boy, none of it was more important than the June 5 call that ended in the removal of a plastic kitchen utensil from his index finger.

No details were available, but Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clifford said firefighters usually apply soap or some other lubricant before resorting to the Jaws of Life to separate boys from their toys.

“The boy was fine,” Clifford reported.

Firefighters were prepared to rescue a group of kayakers a day later when a passerby saw them in the Spokane River near the Interstate 90 bridge at Stateline, Idaho. It turned out, though, that the kayakers were just practicing and had no desire to be rescued.

Besides the utensil-snared toddler, a half-dozen calls for general service included a couple of young children locked in cars and some isolated flooding caused by Wednesday night’s thunderstorm.

Clifford said the storm accounted for some of the 13 false or minor alarm-system calls in the seven-day period. Flooding triggered some alarms and door-rattling thunder set off others when the intense storm passed through the area between 8 and 9 p.m., he said.

Lightning caused one of three reported brush fires. The second was an illegal campfire and the third turned out to be a Halloween smoke-making machine in a backyard, Clifford said.

Nine structure fires in the period included one Tuesday at 8203 E. Fairview Ave. when oil leaking from a furnace supply line ignited in the basement. Clifford said the smoky fire caused an estimated $5,000 worth of damage that probably will require a new furnace and ductwork, and extensive cleaning.

An electrical fire in a wall Wednesday caused an estimated $2,500 damage to a home at 14912 E. 10th Ave.

The other structure fires were minor, Clifford said.

Two arsons included a fire that destroyed a car, valued at $500, that was parked at a fourplex.

That fire remains under investigation, but a suspect was quickly arrested in a gasoline-fueled fire less than 10 feet from Mission Ridge Assisted Living at 12903 E. Mission Ave.

Clifford said the 5 p.m. Mission Ridge fire burned a plastic trash bin, a plastic gasoline can and some slats in a plastic fence.

Spokane Valley police arrested the suspect, 20-year-old William Orville Floyd of 4324 W. Crown Ave., about 7:45 p.m. when an officer reportedly caught him vandalizing a building under construction at 13418 E. Nora Ave. Police said the vandalism caused an estimated $10,000 worth of damage.

Floyd was arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson, second-degree burglary and first-degree malicious mischief, according to police and fire authorities.

Spokane Valley firefighters also responded to 172 emergency medical calls and 16 vehicle accidents that sent eight people to hospitals with minor to serious injuries.

The worst of the crashes occurred about 5 p.m. last Saturday at the corner of Mission Avenue and Harvard Road.

Two people had to be extricated from their mangled minivan when it was T-boned by a full-sized pickup. The pickup driver was uninjured, but the minivan occupants were hospitalized with serious injuries, Clifford said.