Unusual lockout among fire calls

With a drop in calls for service, it was a slow week at the Spokane Valley Fire Department, but one call stands out.

The week of Feb. 20, firefighters were called to the 200 block of South Evergreen Road for a lockout. Typically lockouts involve young children who manage to lock themselves, and the keys, inside a vehicle. Like language, which children understand much earlier than they can speak, locks are apparently easier to do than undo for a tot.

There was a child locked inside a car in the 12000 block of East Sprague Avenue, last week, but the lockout of note on Evergreen, according to fire information officer Bill Clifford, involved an adult locked inside a kitchen closet. There was no word on exactly how the person came to be locked in the closet, but firefighters were able to spring the door without using the “jaws of life,” a metal munching car door opener used for rescuing traffic accident victims.

By the numbers, there were 174 calls for service between Feb. 20 and 27. There were 135 calls for medical assistance, 14 for false alarms, and a dozen for car accidents in which four people were taken to the hospital.

There were four fire calls. Someone who cleaned out his fireplace in the 3300 block of Glenn Road placed the ashes in a combustible container and set it out by the woodpile. The resulting fire caused some structure damage.

There were two car fires. One was merely an overheated car, steaming but not aflame. The other was a sedan in the 10,000 block of East 14th Avenue. The sedan fire is under investigation.

The fourth fire involved a burn barrel of flaming garbage. Burn barrels are illegal.