Early morning fire displaces eight from home

Spokane firefighters this morning battled a fire in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood that displaced eight people from a two-story home that had been converted into apartments. Crews responded at 4:43 a.m. to 1001 N. Elm St. and arrived to find heavy smoke coming from the second story of the home. All eight occupants were able to evacuate under heavy smoke conditions from the apartments in the home, Assistant Chief Brian Schaeffer said in a news release. Firefighters battled the fire for about 90 minutes and reported no injuries among their crews or the occupants, Schaeffer said. The heaviest damage occurred in one of the second-story apartments. All of the displaced tenants were referred to the Inland Northwest Region of the Red Cross. The building sustained about $30,000 in damage, Schaeffer said, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.