Old Village Squire tavern burns in morning blaze

A vacant building that used to house the Village Squire tavern in Spokane Valley was damaged by fire early this morning. The Spokane Valley Fire Department arrived on the scene shortly after a Spokesman-Review delivery woman spotted it and called it in, about 3:46 a.m. The building, at 108 S. Dartmouth Road, had been vacant for several years, said Bill Clifford, fire department spokesman. When firefighters arrived, the north portion of the building was “well involved in fire,” Clifford said in a news release. Battalion chiefs opted to fight the fire from the exterior, given the building’s age and unoccupied status. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the fire department at 928-1700 or Crime Check at 456-2233.