Fireplace without a chimney causes fire
The Spokane Valley Fire Department is investigating what might be called “The Case of the Missing Chimney.”
Among the 202 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday, firefighters responded to an attic fire caused by a fireplace without a chimney.
Another odd thing during the period, according to Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clifford, was that “for the first time in many, many months there were no lockouts.”
No adults were locked out of their homes; no small children were locked inside cars, either.
In the chimney whodunit, Clifford said the department wants to know why a tenant in a duplex at 11413 E. 40th Ave. started a fire in a freestanding fireplace even though the metal chimney pipe through the attic was missing because of an ongoing roofing project.
Did someone fail to tell the tenant that the pipe ended at the ceiling?
Clifford said exhaust from the fireplace emptied into the attic on May 29 and caused a fire that did an estimated $120,000 worth of damage. It was the most serious of eight structure fires that were reported.
A day later, there was a close call in the 2700 block of Early Dawn Lane when residents managed to carry a smoking pan of overheated cooking oil outside before it could ignite.
Clifford said four reported brush fires involved unauthorized warming or cooking fires in the Dishman Hills Natural Area or along the Centennial Trail. He said another fire suspected of being illegal trash incineration turned out to be a permitted backyard warming fire.
Eleven alarm-system calls all were false or triggered by minor problems, Clifford said.
A hazardous-materials call involved a suspected natural-gas odor that firefighters couldn’t detect when they arrived.
In addition to 161 emergency medical calls, Clifford said firefighters responded to 14 vehicle accidents that sent eight people to hospitals with minor to moderate injuries.
Two calls for general service involved a downed telephone line and a May 30 burglary at Mossuto’s Bridal & Formals, 12109 E. Sprague Ave. Police needed ladders to get onto the roof, Clifford said.