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

Homeowner credits boy for saving house from fire

Dan Fox, a homeowner in north Spokane near Whitworth University, talks Friday about how his home was saved from fire because a 10-year-old boy in a passing car spotted the flames on top of his home and got his family to turn the car around and investigate. Embers from Fox’s rarely used fireplace came out of the chimney and landed on pine needles on his roof. The man driving the car with the alert boy also shinnied up on the roof and sprayed it with a hose to help put  out the fire. Because of the attentive boy,  little damage was done. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

Most people in the area spent Thanksgiving being grateful for the power energizing their homes. Dan Fox was thankful for a 10-year-old boy whom he credits with saving his home from a fire sparked by his fireplace.

Like tens of thousands in Spokane, Fox lost power during the windstorm on Nov. 17. On the evening of Nov. 18, Fox lit a fire in his fireplace, something he hadn’t done since moving in six years ago. Around 11 p.m. he was in the lower level of his split-level home near Whitworth University helping his 18-year-old daughter change the sheets on her bed.

He heard a horn honking frantically outside his home. Curious, he looked outside to see people sprinting toward his house. Thinking they needed help, he started up the stairs. Before he could reach the door, fists were pounding on it urgently.

When he opened the door a woman told him his house was on fire. “Let me tell you, it was kind of like a lightning bolt in my skull,” Fox said.

He ran outside to see smoke and flames billowing from his roof. He hurried to connect his garden hose while his wife and daughter grabbed the family cat and a laptop before rushing outside. He had just realized that his ladder was locked inside his powerless garage when he noticed a man up on his roof attempting to stomp out the flames. He passed up the garden hose and the man sprayed the roof with water until firefighters arrived.

“You could see the glow getting less and less,” Fox said.

The man, woman and boy had been driving down the dark street when the boy noticed the flames. The adults were focused on the pitch black road and didn’t see the flames, but the boy insisted they turn around and go back.

Fox marvels that the boy was looking out the window at just the right time and not focused on a cellphone screen.

“How often does that happen?” he said.

The man from the car used two empty garbage cans to shinny up onto the roof to put out the fire, Fox said.

Firefighters arrived quickly and snuffed out the flames. One told a speechless Fox that not only was his home at 1002 W. Woodway Ave. intact, but his shingles weren’t even damaged.

As it turns out, an ember had come out of the chimney and ignited pine needles on the roof. Fox said he was told that his chimney didn’t have the necessary screen to keep embers contained.

Even though firefighters cleared the remaining pine needles off his roof so he could light a fire again, Fox refused to chance it. He and his family spent the next three days in the cold until power was restored.

Fox gets emotional when he talks about what might have happened if not for the 10-year-old boy who happened to be looking out into the darkness. He’s tried to find the family to thank them but hasn’t had any luck.

“I was connected to them, in a way,” he said. “There’s lessons, but this one had a happy ending.”