Spokane Man Charged In Parkwater Hotel Fire No One Injured In Blaze At Building Used For Storage

When the 88-year-old Parkwater Hotel burned Sunday morning, it gave off enough heat to melt the vinyl siding on a house across the street.

No one was injured in what is suspected to be an arsonist’s caper south of Felts Field. But the two-story Parkwater was reduced to a fried husk. Its walls were knocked down Sunday by a demolition crew as a safety precaution.

It’s been a while since the hotel on Union and Airport had lodgers. Most recently it has been used for storage, said Lt. Michael Zambryski, investigator with the Spokane Fire Department.

The building’s last visitor may have been 34-year-old Kelly Garnier. He’s been charged with first-degree arson in connection with the fire, Zambryski said.

Garnier apparently stays in a camper parked near the old building. While the fire burned around 1 a.m., he and another man watched.

Police detained Garnier after his companion said something to the officers.

Zambryski interviewed Garnier and his story didn’t match what other witnesses had told the fire investigator.

“He wouldn’t say he started it, only that it was an accident,” Zambryski said.

The Parkwater Hotel put on a mighty show in its demise. The fire’s temperatures likely ran between 1,500 to 2,000 degrees, Zambryski said.

Firefighters spent most of their time protecting nearby buildings from the flames. The heat cracked the windshield and melted two reflector lenses on one fire truck.

Across the street, the aluminum siding on one home was deformed in addition to the melted vinyl nearby. A window cracked at one house. Pulling back the drapes to a window, one nearby resident told Zambryski she thought she had been burned.

A damage estimate was unavailable.

There is no connection between this fire and the one that ruined part of the roof at Sacajawea Middle School early Saturday, Zambryski said.

, DataTimes