Firefighters respond to apartment fire in West Central neighborhood

Spokane firefighters responded to a blaze that destroyed much of a second floor apartment unit in a West Central house Tuesday night. No one was injured. Shortly after 7 p.m., a fire started in the wall of the second floor of the home on 2300 block of West Gardner Ave. It appears to have been caused by faulty electrical wiring, Asst. Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said, but crews remained on scene investigating the cause of the fire. The home was originally built as a single-family dwelling, but has since been converted to two apartments, Schaeffer said. The downstairs unit appeared to be in good condition, but the entire upstairs was either heavily damaged or destroyed. No one was injured, but there was a cat unaccounted for. Schaeffer said houses reconverted into apartment buildings pose a challenge to firefighters attempting to locate the source of a blaze. “It makes it really complicated for us because it seems to be a normal home,” but entering individual units is difficult in house-turned-apartment dwelling, Schaeffer said. In this case, firefighters originally entered the home from the first floor, but the only access to the second floor and fire was from the outside. Firefighters responded to a fire at a house converted into apartments at Regal Street and Olympic Avenue on Sunday. The building was determined uninhabitable and 16 people were displaced. Firefighters faced similar access issues while battling that blaze.