Fire calls include roof collapse

A lot of snow had fallen in Spokane Valley by mid-week, but it was light and fluffy snow that only resulted in one roof collapse. Valley Fire officials are dreading the forecasted heavier, wetter snow expected to fall over the weekend.

“If the temperatures warm up and we get some rain and we get some heavier snow on top of this,” more roof collapses will happen, said Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clifford. Homes with pitched roofs should be fine, but buildings and car ports with flat roofs will be in danger. Still, Clifford isn’t recommending that homeowners grab a ladder and a shovel. Instead, they should hire someone to do the work.

“We don’t encourage people to get up on their roof, because we’ll see more falls and broken bones,” he said. “There are quite a few people to call.”

The roof of Inland Empire Drywall at 5104 E. Railroad Ave., fell in at 6:14 a.m. on Dec. 23 under the weight of all the snow. Because of the early hour no one was in the business and no one was injured. The roof of the building was “semi-flat,” said Clifford. “It had a little bit of a pitch to it, but more flat than pitched,” he said. “They have extensive cleanup and repair.”

There were seven structure fires reported in the week ending midday Wednesday, with two causing damage. A homeowner in the 7800 block of East Kiernan apparently cleaned out his wood stove on Sunday and put the ashes in a plastic bucket next to his garage. The still-warm coals caught the garage on fire.

“It was a total loss to the garage, its contents and a pickup inside,” Clifford said. A minivan parked outside the garage was also damaged.

At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday firefighters were called to home in the 11400 block of East 29th Avenue. A 6-year-old boy playing with a lighter set his mattress on fire. Everyone was able to escape the home after his 4-year-old sister warned their parents. “They were able to get some water put on the mattress and slowed the fire down,” Clifford said. “If that little girl hadn’t told her parents, we would have had a devastating fire.”

The damage to the home was limited to the bedroom. Clifford said both children will go through the department’s juvenile fire-setting program. “The little girl can say how much it scared her,” he said. “It sounds like he’s played with some fire in the past. We definitely want to make that stop.”

Valley Fire did deal with several broken water pipes, but not to the extent of the prior week that kept crews running. Once again, most broken pipes were in business and apartment building sprinkler systems. Inadequate insulation or any residual water left in pipes can cause pipes to burst in unheated attics and it’s not a problem that can be solved by leaving faucets dripping. “As for tenants, there’s really nothing they can do,” he said. “It’s based on the freezing temperatures we’ve had for an extended period.”

Overall, firefighters responded to 265 calls, a higher number than normal that can be attributed to the weather. There were 31 auto accidents reported, but because of slow traffic speeds and soft snow only one person had to be transported to the hospital with minor injuries. Requests for medical assistance accounted for 196 of the calls. “We have responded to quite a few calls for slips on snow and ice.”

Firefighters helped a person in a wheelchair who was stuck in the snow at Sprague and Fancher. On Dec. 20 the department was called to unlock a car left running in the Costco parking lot on East Sprague with two infants locked inside. Clifford said he’s not sure how the feat was accomplished. “I’ve locked my keys in the car, but I’ve never locked my keys in the car with my child in there,” he said.

The most unusual call of the week was a resident who called for help at 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday to say that he was trapped in his apartment in the 1800 block of North Hutchinson because of a broken deadbolt lock. “We found a bedroom window that was not locked,” Clifford said. “We got in the house and fixed the deadbolt for them.”