Tarp shorts power lines

The Spokane Valley Fire Department received 183 calls this week, including a house fire started by a heating unit, a parking lot brush fire caused by arson and a power outage.

Traffic lights on Fancher and Park roads to Sprague Avenue to Appleway Boulevard went out around 3:17 p.m. Wednesday, due a electrical shortage caused by a tarp that was laid over power lines. The outage affected all the street lights in the vicinity and lasted up to an hour and a half.

The parking lot fire at Pines Road and Valleyway Avenue, one of six brush fires this week, was significant with flames reaching 30 feet. The lot is adjacent to Bond Family Chiropractic. The fire is considered arson. If anyone has information, they are asked to call the tip line at 242-TIPS(8477).

The house fire started in the early morning of Sept. 1 and resulted in $25,000 damage. No one was injured. The family of five had just purchased a new smoke detector, which alerted them to the fire and they were able to get out. The source of the fire, was clothing on top of a baseboard heater. The heater came on and the clothes caught on fire. Valley Fire spokesman Bill Clifford reminds people to keep combustibles away from heating appliances.

There was one illegal burn, which turned out to be a backyard barbecue. The burn ban was scheduled to be lifted Sept. 13, but Clifford estimates that it will be extended for 30 days.

Other calls included: 145 calls for first aid; 11 vehicle accidents, including two motorcycle accidents. The motorcyclists were transported to the hospital. Two lightning strikes, one struck a tree and the other struck a house, but no significant damage in either instance; one service call to unlock the doors of a running car with a toddler locked inside; eight false alarms, attributed to alarm malfunctions and four hazardous material responses.