Smoker Blamed In Fire

A fire that inspectors think was caused by smoking in bed destroyed one unit of an apartment building in the Spokane Valley early Friday.

The fire at E16201 Sprague began about 3:13 a.m. in the second-floor apartment of Scott Myers, 24, said Valley Fire inspector Eric Olson.

Myers fell asleep and woke to find his bed on fire. He tried to beat the fire out, Olson said, then dragged the burning mattress toward the door. He burned his right hand and dropped the mattress just before the door to the hallway, Olson said.

“If he had got this mattress into the hallway, everybody else would have been trapped,” he said.

The six other tenants got out of the building safely.