Post Falls woman suffers burns in house fire

A Post Falls woman suffered burns on her leg, feet and arm and early today when she attempted to put out a bedding fire started by a space heater placed too close to the flammable materials, a fire official said. Another occupant in the rental home at 1530 N. Lincoln St. used a garden hose to knock down the fire in a basement bedroom, said Jim Lyon, fire information officer for Kootenai County Fire and Rescue. The woman was taken to Kootenai Medical Center for treatment, Lyon said, but he did not provide any other information on her condition. Nine other occupants, including two children, escaped the blaze along with four dogs, two snakes and a cat. The 1:19 a.m. fire was confined to the small bedroom and its contents with minimal damage to the house, Lyon said. It was the third fire involving space heaters in the Kootenai County fire district in recent months, Lyon said. He cautioned that space heaters should be kept at least three feet from combustible materials. Also, the home’s lower-level smoke detector did not have batteries in it and other smoke detectors in the home were disabled. Also, an electrical circuit was being overused, both of which increased the risk of fire in the home, he said.