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

Man and woman taken to Harborview following early morning CDA fire

Six children treated and released at Kootenai Medical Center

From staff reports
A man and woman were transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after suffering burns and smoke inhalation in an early morning apartment fire in Coeur d’Alene that sent eight people, including six children, to the hospital. The children were all treated and released from Kootenai Medical Center, but the man and woman, 28 and 29 years old, respectively, were more severely injured, police said. Police believe they lived in the same apartment. The city’s police and fire departments responded to the fire on the 4200 block of Crown Avenue around 5:50 a.m., which started when a log rolled out of a fireplace and ignited the carpet and furniture. Firefighters rescued and evacuated 12 people and two dogs from four apartments, a news release from the police department said. “I came away with my life, and so did everyone else,” said Meaghann Pritchard, a tenant in the building. Pritchard wasn’t home when the fire broke out. When she checked her phone around 7 this morning, she found a series of frantic voice mails from her neighbor: “The apartment’s on fire. Are you OK? Where are you?” The neighbor told her that the dogs alerted the tenants to the smoke. Pritchard, who’s studying psychology at North Idaho College with the goal of becoming an counselor, has mid-terms on Monday and Tuesday. “My school books are in there,” she said, gesturing to the blackened building. Kootenai Fire, Northern Lakes, and Mica fire departments also responded to the fire. A nearby apartment building was evacuated as a precautionary measure as flames engulfed the four-plex. The Red Cross is assisting the people displaced from their homes.