Youngsters caught short by dangerous cold

Spokane Valley firefighters rescued two juveniles from icy traps this week, starting with a 13-year-old girl whose tongue was frozen to a flagpole Monday.

The second victim was a whitetail deer that fell through thin ice on Liberty Lake about 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The deer was in more danger than the girl. She was with another 13-year-old girl who called 911 on cell phone.

“We were retarded and she stuck her tongue to the pole,” the caller told a 911 operator when asked to explain the emergency.

“Are you laughing?” she asked when the operator pressed for details.

“No, I’m not,” the operator said without so much as a chuckle. “I feel bad for her. That’s gonna hurt.”

Fire Marshal Kevin Miller said the flagpole incident occurred about 4 p.m. at the Edgecliff Community Center, 6903 E. Fourth Ave., formerly Pratt Elementary School.

He said the girl who placed the call for help was the first to test the pole.

She applied her lips, which were dry, and nothing happened, Miller said. Then her friend put her moist tongue on the pole and was immediately attached.

“Just like in the movie,” Miller said, referring to “A Christmas Story,” in which a boy finds himself in the same predicament.

Officials didn’t identify the girls, and efforts to contact them were unsuccessful. However, the one who called for help publicly disseminated a cell phone photo of her friend at the height of the crisis.

Miller said firefighters quickly freed the tongue-tied teen with a bottle of drinking water. Fortunately, he said, fire trucks carry bottled water to refresh firefighters while they’re battling blazes.

The girl suffered a minor abrasion on her tongue and was sent home with her father.

Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford said the young whitetail fell through thin ice 75 to 100 yards from shore in the 2000 block of South Liberty Drive. The animal was exhausted from unsuccessful efforts to free itself.

Witnesses called 911 shortly after 10 a.m., and the rescue took about 15 minutes once firefighters arrived.

Clifford said firefighters trained in ice rescue used protective clothing and special equipment to reach the deer. Assistant Fire Marshal Clifton Mehaffey cradled the deer while other firefighters pulled them ashore.

The deer failed to follow the basic rule for venturing onto frozen lakes, Clifford said: “Thick and blue, tried and true; thin or crispy, way too risky.”

Don’t make the same mistake, he urged. Even with strong ice, it needs to be at least 3 inches thick to hold a person. And 5 to 6 inches are required to support a group of people or a snowmobile, Clifford said.

Miller said the rescues were among 211 calls the department answered in the reporting week that ended Wednesday night. Medical emergencies accounted for 154, or 73 percent, of the calls.

There were three notable structure fires, beginning at 9 p.m. Dec. 3 with an attic fire that caused an estimated $10,000 damage to a home in the 10600 block of East 13th Avenue. Miller said faulty wiring was to blame. No one was injured.

About 9:30 the next morning, Spokane Valley firefighters helped Newman Lake Fire and Rescue fight a fire that destroyed a lakefront home in the 12300 block of West Newman Lake Road.

Miller said the owner wasn’t home but had been having difficulty with a wood stove that is suspected of causing the fire. He said an ongoing investigation by the two fire departments was difficult because the fire scene was turned into “a big block of ice.”

A faulty light fixture was blamed for a fire about 5:45 a.m. Tuesday that caused an estimated $75,000 damage to a home in the 1300 block of South Robinhood Lane.

Miller said a woman and her two small children escaped safely although their smoke detector didn’t alert them.

“We surmise there was no battery in it,” Miller said.

Two vehicle fires both involved large trucks.

Miller said a semitruck parked in the 23500 block of East Knox Avenue in Liberty Lake sustained $75,000 worth of damage about 7 p.m. Dec. 4 from an electrically caused fire in its engine compartment.

Another engine compartment fire broke out Wednesday in a Waste Management garbage truck in the 9300 block of East Trent Avenue. Miller said leaking hydraulic fluid was ignited, causing minor damage.

The driver put out the fire with an extinguisher, and firefighters cleaned up the spilled fluid.

A woman who drove her smoking car to the department’s Liberty Lake station Dec. 4 had failed to release the parking brake, Miller said.

He said there were 16 vehicle accidents, but only three caused injuries. Victims were taken to hospitals with neck, head and abdominal pain.

Miller said a one-car rollover Dec. 3 on Interstate 90 near Flora Road involved a large dog. Firefighters tethered the apparently uninjured dog to a guardrail until county animal control officers could collect it.

Calls for general service mostly involved ice-ruptured pipes.

Miller said firefighters helped a resident reach a shutoff valve by prying open a frozen manhole cover in front of his home.

Firefighters also responded to five ruptured fire-sprinkler pipes. Miller said most such breaks occur because sprinkler and insulation installers don’t work together to ensure adequate insulation.

“It’s just a disconnect between them,” Miller said.

He said the fire department began a program this week that will try to improve communications among the installers.