Businesses Help Out After Guilds’ School Damaged By Fire

Thu., July 27, 1995

By Kim Barker kimb@spokesman.com

A fire may have damaged the Spokane Guilds’ School and Neuromuscular Center this month, but community support has helped soothe the school’s wounds.

The fire July 11 caused between $5,000 and $10,000 worth of damage to the center, 2118 W. Garland.

The school’s 90-day-old tool shed was destroyed and the outside of the gym wall was damaged. Tools stored in the shed, such as a riding lawn mower, a trim mower and a snow blower, were destroyed.

Two companies donated money and goods to help the school, which teaches children under age 3 who have developmental disabilities. B&J Industrial Supply Co. of Spokane donated $500, and Ziggy’s Building Materials donated a shed valued at $1,000.

The fire may have been started by people playing with fireworks behind the school.

Two girls driving by the school at 12:30 a.m. on July 11 noticed sparks and flames and called firefighters from a nearby home. The residents came to the school and rolled one of the school vans away from the fire.

“We are so lucky those girls came by,” said Karen Krei, development director for the school. “I don’t even know who they are. Nobody knows their names.”

The school is still getting back to normal.

The new shed was delivered this week. On Tuesday, the lawn was mowed for the first time since the fire because the school bought a new riding lawn mower.

“The thing was starting to grow like crazy,” Krei said Tuesday. “We’re all feeling a lot neater today.”

, DataTimes

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