House fire causes extensive damage

Spokane Valley firefighters responded to 185 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday, including a fire that caused an estimated $90,000 in damage to a house.

Inspector Bill Clifford said investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire at 3303 N. Elton Road. He said the fire caused extensive damage in the bedroom where it started and burned undetected for an extended period.

No one was home when the fire was reported about 7:35 p.m. Sunday, Clifford said.

None of five other structure-fire calls was serious, Clifford said. One involved an illegal burn barrel; another, smoke from an inadequately cleaned pellet stove.

Five alarm-system calls also were minor if not false alarms, Clifford said. However, he said one of the alarms may have prevented a serious fire.

A space heater intended to keep a fire-sprinkler pipe from freezing set off a heat detector, Clifford said. The heater had been placed in a small “riser room” containing an exterior water line connected with a business’ sprinkler system.

A better plan is to install a certified, thermostatically controlled heater, Clifford said.

Other calls included 161 medical emergencies, 10 vehicle accidents with only minor injuries and three requests for general service.

One of the service calls involved a small fuel spill that occurred when a vehicle’s gasoline tank was punctured by an object the vehicle hit on Interstate 90.