Two families left homeless

Spray paint fumes and a match are being investigated as the possible cause of a blaze that gutted a North Side residence and left two families homeless, officials said.

No people were injured in the fire at 821 W. Dalton, but a few kittens were unaccounted for, said Spokane Fire Battalion Chief Bob Green.

The blaze erupted about 1:40 p.m. on the back porch of the 1 1/2-story house and spread through the front of the dwelling, fire officials said. Two teenagers, who had been in the home just before the fire, reportedly had been using spray paint and one of them lit a match.

Jessica Bannister, who lives in a house behind the residence, said she first noticed the fire when she smelled what she thought was someone barbecuing and looked outside.

“I saw all this black smoke billowing out,” Bannister said.

Firefighters arrived to find the three-bedroom home filled with flames, Green said. The fire was quickly doused, and crews sawed a hole in the roof to make sure the blaze didn’t spread to adjacent structures.

A next-door neighbor, Sarah Kober, said she left to run an errand, and when she returned, the house was ablaze. Flames seared the swing set where her three children – ages 5, 4 and 2 – often play.

“My kids were outside playing just 10 minutes earlier,” Kober said. “I’m so glad they weren’t in the backyard.”

Kober said the woman who lives next door is named Deanna Murphy. She’s lived there with her son for about three years, Kober said.

Murphy wasn’t home when the fire started, fire officials said. Witnesses said her teenage son came running out the front door shortly after smoke was spotted from the back porch.

Murphy sat across the street with tears streaming down her face, hugging her black Labrador and talking to a fire investigator. A woman and her teenage daughter, who didn’t want to be identified, said they had moved into the house with Murphy just two days earlier. The blaze cost them everything they owned.

Charred clothing, a few children’s toys and raggedy blankets were strewn about the yard of the home hollowed out by flames.

Officials continue to investigate the fire. No damage estimate was available.