EMS calls keep crews busy during slow week

Spokane Valley Fire Department crews responded to about 40 more calls than usual during the week of July 14-20, but there were no major fires among the 241 calls.

Instead there were several illegal backyard fires burning yard debris or trash, one small brush fire along I-90 caused by a malfunctioning van, and one semi trailer with overheated brakes.

There was one residential natural gas line rupture caused by a wayward backhoe in the 13100 block of East Rich Avenue on July 14. The second gas line rupture was more “interesting,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford. Firefighters were called to a home in the 3600 block of North Harvard Road shortly after midnight on July 19. Someone had backed into the home’s gas meter and sheared it off, Clifford said. The people there were underage, intoxicated and “non-cooperative,” he said. Firefighters cut off the flow of gas and called police. “We just left it in the hands of law enforcement,” Clifford said.

The department’s swift-water rescue team was called out once to assist Spokane firefighters with a water rescue.

A couple of kids playing in a garage in the 200 block of South Adams Street the evening of July 18 accidentally locked themselves in. Firefighters were able to free them, Clifford said.

A call involving a 2-year-old locked inside a car on a warm day came in on July 15. A car service company had been called but had not yet arrived and family members were worried about the child, Clifford said. It turned out that firefighters arrived at the same time the service did. “We checked the child out to make sure he was safe,” he said. The child was uninjured.

There were 16 car accidents reported during the week. Two people had to be transported to the hospital. There were 191 EMS calls, which helped boost the weekly number of calls over the average.