Fire tears through apartment building at Astor and Augusta

Fire crews from Spokane and Spokane Valley are battling a three-alarm fire at an apartment building at North Astor Street and East Augusta Avenue in North Spokane. The fire appears to have swept through the three-story building’s top floor and burned off the roof. Clouds of thick, choking smoke filled the Logan neighborhood just north of Gonzaga University, sometimes making it impossible to see across the street. Jessica Schilling, who lives in an apartment on the third floor, said she didn’t know about the fire until someone banged loudly on her door. She said she didn’t think, she just ran. “I didn’t have time to grab anything,” she said. Spooked by the noise of the banging, her cat ran and hid, Schilling said. “I left the door open,” she said. “I kind of hope if she’s smart, she ran out.” Schilling’s hands were trembling as she watched her apartment burn. “I’m just really sad, mostly,” she said. “Everything is gone. There just aren’t any words.” Schilling said she believes the fire started on a balcony on the southeast corner of the third floor. She said the resident of that unit smokes, and possibly extinguished a cigarette in a potted plant on the balcony. She saw a tall column of fire on that balcony as she ran out of the building, she said, and had seen one of the potted plants smoking earlier in the day. Mike Allen, who was riding his bike nearby, saw the smoke and hurried to the building, he said. He got there about the same time as firefighters and saw them kicking in doors to check if any residents were inside. “The whole top story was engulfed in flame,” he said. “It seemed like an awful lot of fire.” The building appeared to have cedar shingles on the side of the building’s top floor. “You get a spark on cedar shingles in hot weather, it’s gone,” Allen said. Spokane Fire Chief Bobby Williams said the cause of the fire is under investigation but it appears to have started on the upper level of the southeast corner. Everyone was able to evacuate and no one was injured, Williams said. “The fire burnt fairly quickly,” Williams said. The fire drew nearly every fire truck in Spokane and crews from Fire Districts 8, 9 and 10 were helping fill the gaps, Williams said. The Red Cross responded to the scene to assist residents. A shelter has been opened for residents at Stevens Elementary School, 1717 E. Sinto Ave.