Fire started by child with lighter

A child playing with a cigarette lighter started a bedroom fire Tuesday.

No one was injured in the fire, which brought Spokane Valley Fire Department crews to a house on Tenth Avenue near University Road.

The 4-year-old’s mother saw smoke coming out of a bedroom at 12:38 p.m. Tuesday. No one was inside the bedroom, said Valley Fire Inspector Clifton Mehaffey. The mother had tried to put out the fire with a pitcher of water, and when that didn’t work, the family left the house.

Mehaffey said the child started the fire with a Bic-style lighter.

The fire did little structural damage but the house was filled with smoke, Mehaffey said. The family is staying with relatives until it can be ventilated.

Mehaffey said the fire department will donate smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher to the family.

Car plates lead to drug arrest

The license plates on the front and back of a Camaro allegedly didn’t match.

A police officer investigated and arrested the Camaro’s driver on drug charges Tuesday morning.

Spokane Valley Police Department Officer Scott Bonney spotted the Camaro parked at a convenience store near Sprague Avenue and Willow Road about 2 a.m. Tuesday.

As the Camaro left the store, Bonney stopped it. The driver, identified as Joseph W. Sawyer, 25, 706 E. First Ave., admitted his license was suspended, according to a press release from the Valley Police Department.

Bonney searched the car and found a small jar containing methamphetamine in the car’s console, police said.

Sawyer was booked into the Spokane County Jail for allegedly possessing meth.

Fund-raising scam alert

Donating to a high school art program seems like a worthy cause.

Yet police warn that a group of people posing as Spokane Alternative High School students are going door-to-door asking people to donate to the school’s art program. The fraud suspects have been working neighborhoods in the West Valley School District, according to a press release from the Spokane Valley Police Department.

None of the high schools in the West Valley School District are doing fund-raisers, police said. The scam is under investigation by law enforcement.

Anyone approached by the suspects should report the incident to West Valley School Resource Deputy Andy Buell at 924-2150.

Burglar hits Best Car Wash

Police are investigating a break-in at a Spokane Valley car wash.

A burglar stole money from a change machine as well as $1,500 worth of hand tools from Best Car Wash, 4208 N. Best Road, according to a press release from the Spokane Valley Police Department.

The break-in occurred sometime between 10 p.m. Sunday and noon Monday, police said. It’s possible the thief stood on a car or truck and entered through an upper wall vent, police said.

A neighbor reported seeing a suspicious man in his 30s messing around with the change machine Monday morning.

Anyone with information about this burglary is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.