Boy Missing After Fire Destorys Home Parents Suspect The Child May Have Started Blaze And Is Afraid Of Being Punished

An 11-year-old Spokane Valley boy was missing Tuesday after a fire destroyed his family’s Newman Lake home.

The boy’s parents worry he might have started the fire Tuesday morning and is afraid to return home.

Chris Wood, a fifth-grader at East Farms Elementary, was last seen getting ready for school around 8 a.m.

A little more than 30 minutes later, firefighters were battling the blaze that engulfed the house.

School officials said Chris never arrived at school Tuesday. Valley Fire officials, who used a dog to search the debris, don’t believe his body is in the rubble.

The boy’s father, Robert Wood, said his son had been in trouble for playing with matches at his mother’s home in Colville. Wood said he’d also seen signs that his son was playing with fire.

“We think that’s what happened. He got scared and ran away,” Wood said.

The fire erupted in the 5700 block of North Blue Skies Road and was reported by a school bus driver. By the time firefighters arrived, flames were leaping out of windows.

“The fire was way ahead of us,” Valley Fire Marshal Paul Chase said. “When we got here the attic was fully involved.”

Fire officials don’t know the cause of the fire, only that it started in the basement.

Wood said when he left home around 8 a.m., Chris had eaten breakfast and was ready for school. The boy typically walks or rides his bike to school and has to be there by 9 a.m.

“He’s an independent kid. It’s not unusual for him to be at home (alone) for an hour before school,” his father said.

The boy lives with his father and older sister, who attends East Valley High School.

His mother, Jolynne Wood, came to Newman Lake when she heard about the fire.

Neighbors, friends and Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies searched into the night Tuesday for the boy. East Farms Elementary Principal Mike Uphus said the school sent a flier home with each child Tuesday. He gave copies of Chris’ school picture to the Newman Lake Post Office and nearby businesses. Neighbors took copies as they searched the area.

“Chris is a really neat kid,” Uphus said. “My biggest concern is that he hasn’t shown yet. It was really a wave of relief when they said they were almost positive he’s not in the house.”

Neighbors checked playgrounds, makeshift forts and fields behind the subdivision, looking for tracks in the new snow.

The boy is described as about 5 feet tall with blond hair. He was wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes. His father thinks he was wearing a sports jersey and a blue and silver Dallas Cowboys jacket.

As night began to fall, Wood said the fire was not important.

“He just needs to come home. He’s not going to be in serious trouble. The house is the least of my worries. He just needs to come home.”

Anyone with more information is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.

Staff writer Marny Lombard contributed to this report.