Grass fires account for half of blazes

The Spokane Valley Fire Department handled 219 emergency calls between Aug. 23 and Wednesday.

Crews were called to put out 16 fires, Fire Marshal Kevin Miller said. They included eight grass fires, two car fires, two trash fires and two fires in clothes dryers and a fire in an oven, he said.

“All we lost in that was garlic bread,” Miller said, adding that the fire started after the cook fell asleep

Just after 6 p.m. Sunday, 19 firefighters used 100 gallons of water and foam to smother a fire in a casting bin at Kaiser Aluminum, Miller said. Molten aluminum ignited residual oil at the plant, which put off a lot of smoke. he said.

Crews also put out seven illegal fires – mostly campfires that are prohibited under the present burn ban.

It was another bad week for vehicle crashes, with 19 reported and 13 of those resulting in injuries, Miller said. At 5 a.m. Wednesday, an accident sent three cars off the road on I-90. A pickup rolled on its top, and crews extricated an individual, who then was taken to ahospital, Miller said. Other incidents included 11 fire alarms, 14 service calls, one downed power line, one report of smoke in the area and 141 medical emergencies, Miller said.