In brief: Fire on West Plains quickly doused

A rapidly spreading brush fire along Geiger Boulevard west of Spokane briefly threatened the Washington State Patrol headquarters and other businesses early Thursday evening.

The flames were visible to motorists along Interstate 90 and sent up plumes of smoke visible for miles.

Spokane County Fire District 10 firefighters and other crews quickly stopped the spread of the flames near Geiger Boulevard and Grove Road, said Department of Natural Resources spokesman Eric Keller.

When crews arrived they found that several spot fires had already started away from the main fire. The fire was estimated at between three and five acres. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Local men accused in death in Montana

Spokane police are investigating two local men in the July killing of Jacob Colvin and have obtained a search warrant to collect cellphone records.

Colvin was found dead in a car parked outside St. Patrick’s Hospital in Missoula on July 26. The person who brought him there, Leo A. Rodriguez, has denied shooting Colvin and told police that Colvin had been shot near the corner of Knox Avenue and Lincoln Street in Spokane by two men the day before, according to court documents.

Rodriguez told police one of the two men he and Colvin encountered leaned in the driver’s side window and shot Colvin.