Minor fires reported

Burnt toast, chimney fires and an escaped campfire resulted in calls to the Spokane Valley Fire Department the week of Feb. 10-Wednesday. The only structure fire was reported by a neighbor in the 19300 block of East Sixth Avenue Tuesday evening.

“There was an unattended candle left in the home that scorched the table and melted wax into the carpeting,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford. No one was home at the time and the neighbor let firefighters in.

Some transients left a campfire unattended behind a business in the 6300 block of East Sprague Avenue during the week. It had spread to the surrounding grass before firefighters extinguished it.

A resident in the area of the apartments in the 2800 block of North Cherry Court called firefighters Sunday afternoon to report children playing with matches and lighters on a hill behind the complex. Firefighters found nothing when they responded. “Obviously the kids had scrammed,” Clifford said.

Arson dog Mako assisted Spokane County Fire District 9 with a fire investigation in the 7000 block of West Rutter Parkway on Feb. 10. “He alerted on burned debris in the corner of the house,” Clifford said. A sample was collected and sent to the crime lab to confirm the presence of an accelerant.

A 7-year-old boy was sent to the hospital after an ATV accident at the Spokane County Fairgrounds on Feb. 12. “They were having some indoor motorcycle races,” Clifford said. The boy’s ATV flipped and landed on him. He was wearing a helmet, Clifford said.

Getting a car wash wasn’t all it was cracked up to be for one woman in Liberty Lake on Feb. 11. She called for help after becoming trapped inside an automatic car wash. “The door wouldn’t open,” Clifford said. The woman eventually managed to find the “emergency open” button and let herself out, he said.