Blaze Hits Post Falls Homes Response Delayed Because Of Other Fires In Area; No One Hurt

A funnel of gray smoke rose from across the Spokane River on Wednesday morning. Jennifer Smith feared the smoke was coming from her home.

Kathie Smith and her 15-year-old daughter, Jennifer, had just left home to go shopping in Spokane. With her braces now removed, Jennifer Smith was looking forward to a perfect day with her mom.

Forty-five minutes into the trip, the mother and daughter received a call on their cellular phone. It was the family’s business, Medicine Man West pharmacy in Post Falls, with devastating news - their house was on fire. So they turned around, hoping it was a mistake.

Nine fire districts from across Kootenai County and the Spokane area responded to the fire at 2725 E. Driftwood Drive. The home, owned by Don and Kathie Smith, backs up to the Spokane River. The fire quickly spread to a duplex next door and threatened to light up more homes nearby.

Officials could not confirm the cause of the fire. Neighbors said they heard at least one loud explosion, and watched as the fire spread from the Smith garage to the rest of the 2,000-square-foot house.

The attic of the duplex next door was already on fire when crews arrived, Kootenai County Fire Chief Ron Sampert said.

Damage estimates were not available, but the Smith home was valued by the Kootenai County assessor at $90,200. The duplex was assessed at nearly $195,000, according to county records.

No one was injured during the blaze - including Patches, a 6-year-old spaniel mix alone in the Smith house.

Jack Knox was the first neighbor to notice the burning house and take action.

Fearing Jennifer Smith was asleep inside, Knox unsuccessfully tried to douse the flames with a hose, then kicked in the door.

He found only a panicked Patches, circling the house and barking in a frenzy. Knox herded the dog out the back door.

Meanwhile, the Smiths came home to find the worst.

“It was so engulfed in flames,” Kathie Smith said. “To see that was tough. I’m happy none of us were hurt.”

Neighbors, who watched the fire burn 75 percent of the Smiths’ home, consoled one another.

“We came over because we thought we could use garden hoses,” said Sharon Mealer, a neighbor from another street, who believed the fire could have been contained in the garage if fire officials had arrived sooner.

“There’s no reason for this,” Mealer said.

But Knox said the firefighters didn’t deserve blame.

“These guys did the best they could with what they had,” he said.

At first, only a brush truck arrived to fight the fire, neighbors said. That’s because the house fire was one of several blazes in the area, Sampert said.

At the time the fire began, about 10:30 a.m., the nearest fire engine was in Coeur d’Alene responding to a fire at the IFI mill. Other crews were at a grass fire along Interstate 90, Sampert said.

Eventually, firefighters from as far as Loon Lake and Mica-Kidd Island arrived to the scene of the house fire. Hayden Lake’s fireboat also responded and drew water from the river to douse flames in the back of the homes.

“Too much fire, not enough personnel,” Sampert said. “We couldn’t slow it down fast enough.”

Next door at 2685 E. Driftwood Drive, the rented duplex owned by Ross and Jill Cooper stood for sale. Tenants had tidied up their apartments for a showing Wednesday. But by noon, the siding had melted and the attic was on fire.

“I’m sick it spread to their house,” Kathie Smith said.

But damage to the duplex was limited to the siding, roof and attic, Sampert said. Most possessions inside the duplex were spared.

Hayden Lake Fire Chief Jeff Welch made a special trip inside Carol Wrenn’s home in the duplex to save a beloved painting of her 7-year-old grandson, Dakota Pederson.

Wrenn and her grandson were having breakfast at home when the fire broke out. Knox ran into the duplex’s basement, yelling for someone to call 911.

“I grabbed my grandson,” said Wrenn, through tears of both relief and sadness, while she took stock of her possessions.

With a look of bewilderment, Pederson held onto his grandmother’s hand. The family had just spent a perfect evening on the dock with Melanie Mundt and Jim and Adele Cripe, other tenants living at the duplex, Wrenn said.

“It was the neatest place in the world,” she said of the apartment she has called home for more than a year.

“We have to be thankful we’re all alive,” said Mundt, on a cellular phone to her 30-year-old son in Montana. “But it’s hard. It could have taken the whole house.”

Neighbor Debbie Berger sprayed her roof with water and consoled victims on her porch next door to the duplex.

“Look how quick it would’ve gone,” Berger said, pointing to an adjacent tree between the two houses. “One tree down and we would have been gone. Holy Toledo.”

Crews had completely extinguished the fires by 2 p.m., Sampert said.

The American Red Cross offered hotel rooms and emergency gear for the families.

Later, Jennifer Smith expressed her gratitude for Knox’s help.

She smiled at her dog, Patches, standing at her feet.

“It would be twice as hard without her.”

These 2 sidebars appeared with the story:

1. TO HELP

Call Kootenai County Fire Information Officer Ramona Mobbs at (208) 773-2922.

2. FIREFIGHTERS

Local shortage

Numerous wildfires in Western states including two in eastern Washington and several in central Idaho and Montana - are creating a shortage of firefighters.

Officials say it’s more important than ever for the public to prevent forest fires.

“Locally, our initial attack forces are down to the bare bones,” said Mark Vore, with the Interagency Fire Dispatch Center in Coeur d’Alene. That’s because local firefighters have been loaned to agencies fighting wildfires throughout the Northwest.

Residents are asked to check with local agencies regarding burn restrictions.

For example, dry weather and piles of timber slash have prompted an emergency fire prohibition in the Windy Bay area of Lake Coeur d’Alene. The Bureau of Land Management order prohibits the use of fire or campfires outside the developed area of the Windy Bay Boater Park.

Camp stoves and charcoal fires within fire rings or grills are allowed inside the developed area.