In brief: Two house fires rout 10 residents

Fire investigators are looking into two house fires that in two days have turned 10 people out of their homes.

One fire at 2728 N. Smith St. in Spokane on Sunday night burned the outside of a home and the attic. Two adults and four children were displaced. Fire damage was estimated at about $15,000.

Spokane Valley firefighters knocked down a Monday morning fire near the intersection of Kenney Road and Wellesley Avenue in Otis Orchards. A neighbor spotted smoke billowing from under the eaves at 9:15 a.m.

New crime, same car wash, same suspect

Spokane police …

Fire investigators are looking into two house fires that in two days have turned 10 people out of their homes.

One fire at 2728 N. Smith St. in Spokane on Sunday night burned the outside of a home and the attic. Two adults and four children were displaced. Fire damage was estimated at about $15,000.

Spokane Valley firefighters knocked down a Monday morning fire near the intersection of Kenney Road and Wellesley Avenue in Otis Orchards. A neighbor spotted smoke billowing from under the eaves at 9:15 a.m.

New crime, same car wash, same suspect

Spokane police arrested a man allegedly trying to burglarize a business again after failing the first time nearly nine years ago.

Police responded to an alarm at a car wash at 3121 N. Monroe St. at 11:54 p.m. Sunday.

A roof hatch in one of the wash bays was ajar and there was insulation material on the ground below it, Sgt. Kevin King said. An officer also noticed there were no footprints leading away from the building, despite a fresh layer of snow.

Officers saw someone had broken holes through the drywall ceiling in the office area, so they climbed up into the attic, where they found 32-year-old Samuel T. Lebsock, of Spokane, hiding between the rafters. 

Lebsock was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary and an outstanding warrant for unlawful possession of a firearm.

Police arrested Lebsock in March 2004 on suspicion of committing the same crime at the same car wash. In that case, Lebsock broke in using the same method and escaped, but left behind some paperwork with his name on it.