In brief: Mobile home fire kills woman; four escape

A woman died early Thursday after ashes dumped in an outdoor trash can likely sparked a fire in her Mead mobile home.

Two other adults and two children escaped the fire that started around 5 a.m. at Shenandoah Forest mobile home park, said Howard Johnson, division chief for Spokane County Fire District 4. A neighbor called 911.

The Red Cross is providing temporary housing, food and clothes for the other people who lived in the home, said Megan Snow, a spokeswoman.

The people who escaped the fire were the woman’s caregiver, daughter, fiancé and the caregiver’s daughter. Both children were under age 10, Johnson said.

The woman’s name has not been released.

Some of the other fire victims were treated for smoke inhalation, Johnson said.

The fire appears to have spread from the outdoor trash can to the mobile home and a nearby shed, Johnson said. Both were destroyed.

About 25 firefighters from Districts 4 and 9 responded.

From staff reports

Robber was ‘a friend,’ motel manager says

A Spokane motel manager has been the victim of two armed robberies in less than two months.

A man robbed the Select Inn at Second Avenue and Walnut Street Thursday night about 7:30 p.m. The manager, Mary Harrington, said the man had come in with a hammer and asked for work, but was told the hotel didn’t have any for him. He then asked for “a couple bucks” for food and claimed his wallet was stolen, and left when he was denied.

He later returned, pointed a small black gun at her, demanded she empty the till, and fled with about $150 in cash.

A rather calm Harrington said the unidentified man has come in several times before.

“I said ‘you’re not going to do this to me, we’ve been nice to you,’ ” she said. “I’m nice to everyone.”

“I thought he was a friend,” she said.

Spokane police responded to the robbery, but a K9 track was unsuccessful.

Another man robbed her with a hammer on Dec. 16 after she gave him and his friend $4 for gas, Harrington said. The man’s wife later called and apologized on her husband’s behalf.

Chelsea Bannach