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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Relatively quiet week for fire calls for SVFD

As fall settles in, the number of fire calls received by the Spokane Valley Fire Department is dropping. Crews only responded to two fires of note during the week of Oct. 13 through Thursday.

A homeowner was burning garbage in burn barrel in the 600 block of North Vista Road on Sunday, which is not allowed. “We decided to fill them with water and foam so he could not do that anymore,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford.

A brush fire was reported at 4:09 p.m. on Wednesday in the 1400 block of South Green Ridge Drive, above Liberty Lake. “They can burn up there with a permit,” said Clifford. “Their slash pile got out of hand and got into some surrounding brush and grasses.”

The homeowner monitoring the fire left to go to lunch, Clifford said. “They’re supposed to be in attendance at all times,” he said.

Perhaps the most unusual call was on Thursday in the 3200 block of North Bowdish Road. At that location, someone had set up a memorial shrine complete with burning candles, Clifford said. They left without blowing out the candles and the shrine was next to some dry grass. “If the wind had picked up, someone could have been charged with reckless burning if it had spread to some brush or dry grass,” Clifford said. “We just want to make sure people are blowing out their candles.”

During the week crews responded to a total of 198 calls, which included 156 for EMS and 16 car accidents that sent three people to the hospital.