Fire destroys house, leaves four homeless
Four people are homeless after a fire destroyed their Rockford home early Sunday.
The call came in at 3 a.m., said Fire District 11 Chief Stan Seehorn. “It was fully involved before we got the call,” he said. “It was pretty well gone.”
A neighbor apparently reported the blaze, which began in the front of the rental house. One of the residents was an infant. “They ended up throwing the baby to the mother through the second-story window,” said deputy chief Dan Blystone, of Fire District 8, which sent two engines to help fight the fire.
“The aunt jumped and ended up breaking her arm. It looks like they barely got out.”
The woman with the broken arm and the infant were taken to the hospital, said Seehorn, who did not have the names of those involved. He didn’t know if the baby was injured.
The house, in the 400 block of North First, was old and had “balloon construction.”
“It has no firebreaks in the walls, and (fire) just runs right up the walls,” Seehorn said. “They burn extremely fast.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Boy burned in slide fire breathes without machine
For the first time in more than a month, Brian Ashmore breathed on his own Tuesday.
Ashmore and his friend Alex Brown caught fire June 4 after they had been playing with gasoline in a north Spokane back yard, according to fire investigators. Flames likely were ignited by static electricity created when the boys slid down a plastic slide.
The two 4-year-olds, who were burned over more than half of their bodies, have been recovering at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. Both were listed in serious condition Tuesday night.
Ashmore had been on a ventilator until Tuesday.
“Each little step is a milestone,” said Ashmore’s grandmother, Shannon Ward. “Getting him off the vent was a big step.”
Three injured in weekend car crash still in hospital
Three people injured in a car crash in Post Falls over the weekend remained hospitalized Tuesday. Two of the three were not wearing seat belts, according to police.
Aaron Green, 21, and Antonio Sanchez, 22, both of Medical Lake, were in a Chevrolet Citation – it is unclear who was driving – that was traveling at a “very high rate of speed” Saturday, according to police. The driver lost control on Seltice Way near Fourth Street, colliding with a Saturn SL.
Emily Evans, 27, of Coeur d’Alene, who was driving the Saturn, was listed in stable condition at Kootenai Medical Center.
Her passenger, Angela Wilhelm, 24, also of Coeur d’Alene, was listed in good condition.
The women were not wearing seat belts, said Idaho State Police Sgt. Jonelle Greear.
The men, who were wearing seat belts, were admitted to Sacred Heart Medical Center. Sanchez has been released. Green was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he is listed in serious condition.
Post Falls residents find bullet on floor of home
Some Post Falls residents came home late on the Fourth of July to find a bullet that had been shot into their house on the living room floor, according to police.
It is unclear whether the bullet, which entered the north side of the house and went through two walls, was deliberately fired into the residence, which was empty at the time.
The house is on the 100 block of West 19th Avenue.
Power outage hits 1,075 customers in Rockford area
Avista was working Tuesday night to restore power to 1,075 customers in the Rockford area south of Spokane Valley, said Avista spokeswoman Catherine Markson.
The power substation in Rockford went down at 9:54 p.m., Markson said. Officials were uncertain what caused the outage or when electricity would be restored.