Burned Lloyd building’s future still in doubt

Structural engineers are still trying to determine whether the owner of the Lloyd apartment building can rebuild the fire-damaged structure or if the 1911-vintage building needs to be razed.

Spokane Fire Chief Bobby Williams said two lanes of traffic were opened Monday morning on the 2200 block of North Monroe, after being closed since the spectacular Friday night fire. But questions about the building remain after the three-alarm fire.

“We just want to make sure that if we get a major wind or something like that that it’s not going to cause it to fall in on the structure or, more importantly, on the public or the street,” Williams said.

The building’s owner, Mark Agee, checked the third floor and found it more or less intact, Williams said. The plan is now to use diagonal braces from the floor to the walls to anchor them.

Agee “desires to rehab the building. But I think it’s too early to say whether he will be able to accomplish that,” Williams said.

The fire call to Monroe Street and Mansfield Avenue came when fire officials had already called back two off-duty crews and were attempting to reach others because of storm-caused fires throughout the county. Many fire crews were battling a 40-acre wild land fire on Indian Trail Road that threatened two subdivisions, Williams said.

“We were basically out of resources,” Williams said. “When you are in that kind of emergency crisis, you have to make decisions. We decided not to go on basic life support calls.”

When the apartment fire call came in, Engine Three was the first at the scene. They discovered the fire was already burning in the walls and ceiling near a stove in an unoccupied apartment. The hoses wouldn’t reach, so the firefighters used a hand-held fire extinguisher. “But it was too much fire,” Williams said.

Budget cuts reduced the city’s fire companies from 19 to 17. One of those companies would have been told to respond to the Lloyd apartment fire, Williams said.

“Had (Engine Two crews) been in service, they would have been in there behind Engine Three and probably would have been able to extend the hose lines a little quicker,” he said. “Anytime you have fewer people on duty, when you have big events or numerous events, it’s going to impact our service delivery.”

Williams will find out later this week whether the fire events on Friday used up all of his reserve funds for overtime.

“We have to make sure that the council, policy-makers and community understand that as we’ve said, we’re at the point if we have further budget reductions we are looking at closing stations,” Williams said. “That’s not going to make the situation any better for what we faced on Friday.”