Sprinklers extinguish apartment grease fire

The Spokane Valley Fire Department responded to 209 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday.

Nine of those involved relatively minor fires, including a chimney fire, a fire in an electrical outlet and a robe that was ignited by a baseboard heater.

What started as a grease fire in an apartment “ended up being more of a water call,” Fire Marshal Kevin Miller said.

A sprinkler system extinguished the fire, and firefighters vacuumed up the water.

There also were two vehicle fires and 12 vehicle accidents. Only two of the accidents caused injuries requiring hospital treatment, and those were minor, Miller said.

As usual, most of the department’s calls – 163 or 78 percent – were for emergency medical service.

There were alarm-system calls and seven fire reports that proved unfounded, Miller said.

Nine calls for general service included ventilating smoke from a building with a faulty furnace and a McDonald’s restaurant that accidently burned some grease.

Also, there were four calls to provide first aid or other assistance to police and rescues of a man whose wheelchair got stuck in mud and a woman who got locked out of her house.