Resident Awakens To House On Fire

Sat., May 13, 2000

A fire at his Hayden home startled Gino Besenti awake at 10:20 a.m. Friday.

“I don’t know how it happened,” the 25-year-old said. “I just woke up to someone pounding on the door.”

While Besenti slept in a basement bedroom, two second-floor bedrooms in the house at 11820 Government Way went up in smoke.

Besenti, the only person home at the time, walked away from the fire uninjured. The house is owned by Besenti’s parents, Terry and Veronica Mulvey.

By the time firefighters arrived, the “smoke was going pretty good,” Hayden Lake Fire Chief Jeff Welch said.

The fire damaged two adjoining bedrooms, the attic and some of the house’s roof, Welch said.

A passerby saw smoke coming from the house and called authorities, Hayden Lake fire inspector Dean Marcus said. The fire caused about $5,000 worth of damage.

The fire may have been started by an electric mirror sitting on top of a table in the upstairs bedroom, Marcus said.

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Resident Awakens To House On Fire

Jesse Tinsley

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