Fire guts only half of Valley duplex

Three dogs escaped death when neighbors coaxed them from a burning Spokane Valley duplex Wednesday morning.

A hamster and several birds perished in the fire, said Dave Lobdell, assistant chief of the Spokane Valley Fire Department.

The fire, in the 14100 block of E. Third, was first spotted by a man who lives in one of several group homes nearby.

“He has a little dog he walks every day at the same time,” said the home’s program manager, Sheila Simpson. The man ran back to his residence to tell staff about the smoke. “We’re very proud of him.”

Sylvester “Sly” Davis works at one of the group homes. A shift change was under way shortly before 8 a.m. when the fire was discovered.

“We went around the far side,” Davis said. “Out of the bedroom window were flames up to the eaves. It just amazed me how much flames there were.”

Davis and other bystanders were unsure if the house was occupied and rushed around pounding on doors and windows. “We couldn’t get in because of the heat and smoke,” Davis said.

An elderly woman on oxygen was brought out of the unburned half of the duplex. The woman’s daughter and her children, who lived in the burning portion of the residence, were not home when the fire began, neighbors said. The daughter arrived as firefighters were extinguishing the flames and rushed to comfort her mother. She declined to speak to a reporter.

The fire began on the west side of the home, said Valley Fire battalion chief Warren “Coop” Kennett. It spread into the attic, but the flames were confined to the west half of the duplex. “It pretty much destroyed that part of the house,” Kennett said.

The elderly woman was treated for minor smoke inhalation, but neither she nor any firefighters were injured.

There was some initial confusion about whether there was a child in the burning building, but three checks of the interior failed to turn up anyone, said Kennett.

The fire appeared to have started in a bedroom, but the cause is still under investigation, said Lobdell. The half of the duplex that burned is uninhabitable, he said. “It did get some significant structural damage. The other half had pretty moderate smoke damage. It’s going to take some heavy cleaning” before anyone can move back in, Lobdell said.