Dog escapes injury in house fire

A Spokane Valley dog house was destroyed by fire Dec. 4, but the occupant escaped.

“No injuries, and I don’t have an estimate of value,” Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clifford said.

The Red Cross wasn’t called.

The incident occurred about 8 a.m. at 13719 E. 32nd Ave.

Clifford said the cause was familiar.

“We usually see at least one a year,” he said. “People will put a heat lamp in there to keep Fido warm.”

The problem is that they also put in some straw for insulation.

The dog house blaze was one of eight structure fires and 223 calls the Spokane Valley Fire Department handled in the seven days that ended Wednesday.

A minute after being sent to the dog house, firefighters were dispatched to a burning mattress outside a home at 209 N. Pines Road.

Clifford said residents dragged the mattress outside after a cigarette ignited it. Damage inside the home was limited to light smoke and some carpet burns.

The mattress was on the living room floor when it caught fire, Clifford said.

For the second week in a row, on Dec. 5, someone set a fire at an apartment construction site at 12707 E. Mansfield Ave.

Clifford said gasoline was used to ignite two small piles of debris and a bundle of roof trusses between two unfinished buildings of the new Granite Point Apartments. Firefighters found a melted gasoline container in the fire when they arrived about 7:20 p.m.

The trusses were slightly charred, and the loss was estimated at $2,000.

Although the fires are in an area where children have often set brush fires, Clifford said investigators aren’t assuming the construction fires are the work of juveniles.

He appealed for anyone with information about the arsons to call 928-1700.

Another arson was reported about 7:10 a.m. Dec. 5 outside the Coffee Systems building at 111 N. Vista Road. Clifford said remnants of what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail were found in the ashes of cardboard boxes that had been piled behind the business.

The fire damaged a door and caused an estimated $10,000 loss.

Clifford said the fire department urges businesses not to put boxes and other debris behind their buildings because it is an invitation to vandals with cigarette lighters.

He said the fire code requires waste materials to be placed in metal containers at least five feet away from any combustible wall. And, allowing for eaves, almost all walls are considered combustible.

Clifford said other calls in the past week included 189 medical emergencies, three reports of gas odors or carbon monoxide, a water leak under a mobile home, and seven automatic alarms – three of which were triggered by culinary crises.

“This time it appears there was more food burned than normal,” Clifford said.

There also were 12 vehicle accidents that sent five people to hospitals with minor to moderate injuries.

With snow predicted this weekend, firefighters were bracing for a glut of traffic accidents. Clifford urged motorists to slow down and leave more distance between vehicles.