Fire Destroys Restaurant At Post Falls Mall Passerby Suffers From Smoke Inhalation

A Seltice Way strip mall was engulfed in smoke and soot Saturday morning after a fire destroyed a portion of the R-Place Restaurant.

The fire provided live training for Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene firefighters who were attending the annual North Idaho Emergency Services Academy at North Idaho College.

A five-member volunteer crew in Post Falls responded first to the 9 a.m. fire, while 37 other firefighters from Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai County and Post Falls left from the middle of class at the annual fire academy.

Post Falls Deputy Fire Chief Don McNett said the fact that 15 of his firefighters were at NIC did not slow the response time, which was 5 minutes.

In fact, the response time was better than the average volunteer response time of 8 to 10 minutes.

“Because of the classes, five of us met here at the station,” said Capt. John Ryan. “If it had been five minutes later, we would have been gone.”

Post Falls has a full-time professional firefighting staff that works weekdays, while volunteers cover nights and weekends. Several of the off-duty professional firefighters were at the scene.

Passerby Dick Collingwood reported the fire after seeing black smoke billowing from the roof.

He ran around to the back of the restaurant, and noticed the door was open, Ryan said. Because of the fire, Collingwood couldn’t enter the building, so he knocked out a window with a rock to yell in and make sure no one was inside.

In the process, Collingwood suffered smoke inhalation. When firefighters arrived, they put him on oxygen for a half-hour, Ryan said.

“I couldn’t even see the gas station (next door), it was such black smoke,” said a witness who came upon the fire during her morning walk.

The fire appeared to have started in the rear of the restaurant owned by Dick Leferink. Flames spread through the restaurant, but firefighters contained it there.

No one was in the building at the time the fire started, although workers said Leferink was living in the restaurant office since his recent divorce.

Too upset to talk, Leferink declined to be interviewed. He was comforted by friends and employees as firefighters swarmed around the smoking building.

“I was hoping Dick wasn’t in there,” said employee Penny Allen, who watched the activity from across the street. She was relieved to find his car gone when she arrived.

Smoke traveled through the ceiling of the mall and spread through other businesses, causing varying degrees of smoke damage.

Those businesses may be open next week, according to fire officials.

Dan Karabedian purchased the mall just a few months ago. He and his fiancee, Jean Flock, were at a nearby hardware store purchasing supplies to work on the mall’s landscaping when a store employee told them the mall was on fire.

“It took a lifetime’s savings to buy it,” Karabedian said.

Ryan estimated that the damage was at least $90,000 to the buildings.

“R-Place is pretty much totalled out,” he said. “I’m not sure how much it’s worth.”

Fire investigator Larry Boatright was still on the scene in the afternoon, trying to determine the cause of the fire. Fire officials said early indications pointed to an accidental cause.

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