Man suffers snakebite

A Spokane Valley man was bitten by a rattlesnake near his apartment Monday.

The 31-year-old victim said he was walking past a bush about 200 yards from his apartment building at 12423 E. Mansfield Ave. when the snake bit him.

The incident was among 189 calls for emergency medical service to which the Spokane Valley Fire Department responded in the seven days that ended Wednesday.

Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clifford said the snakebite victim reported he didn’t hear the snake’s rattle until after it bit him about four inches above his left ankle. The 18-inch snake got away when the man walked to his apartment to call for help.

Clifford said snakebite reports are rare – he can’t remember the last one – but people should be on the lookout.

He said the rocky, wooded area where Monday’s incident occurred has been the scene of numerous brush fires believed to have been caused by children.

“Parents letting their kids play up there is not recommended,” Clifford said.

He said the snakebite victim reported feeling hot and nauseated, and his swollen wound was painful.

Paramedics and emergency medical technicians spared the man additional pain by avoiding Hollywood stereotypical treatments such as slicing the wound with a knife, sucking out the venom or applying a tourniquet.

Instead, Clifford said, they placed the victim on a heart monitor, administered oxygen and took him to Sacred Heart Medical Center for treatment with antivenom serum.

The incident occurred about 1 p.m., and the victim was released from the hospital later in the afternoon.

Standard first aid for a snake bite is to elevate the wound and cool it with ice to slow the spread of the venom, Clifford said.

There was another unusual call Wednesday evening when a man reported he had been locked out of his apartment. The door was open when firefighters arrived, and the man said he needed help starting his car so he could go grocery shopping, Clifford said.

He said firefighters found nothing wrong with the car. Clifford had no information about the man’s age or circumstances.

Eight structure fires included a common fireplace error that occurs about this time every year, Clifford said. A woman smoked up her apartment at 11011 E. Fourth Ave. when she started a fire last Saturday morning without opening the flue.

Another apartment was smoked up on Monday afternoon when residents extinguished cigarettes in a plastic container. The container melted, but a neighbor smelled the smoke and called the Fire Department.

Automatic sprinklers extinguished a fire Wednesday in a compressor room at the Ecolite manufacturing plant at 9919 E. Montgomery Ave. Even so, Clifford said, the 3 a.m. fire caused an estimated $20,000 damage.

Ecolite makes parts for light fixtures.

Three vehicle fires caused only minor damage and seven alarm-system calls were false, Clifford said.

He said three of six minor brush fires, within a quarter-mile of each other along the Centennial Trail, were suspicious. The afternoon and evening fires occurred on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.

Three other reported brush fires also were suspicions, Clifford said. One of them was an unsuccessful attempt to ignite some twigs in the 1200 block of North Mullan Road about 6:20 p.m. Sunday.

A seventh brush fire was reported, but firefighters found nothing.

In all, firefighters responded to 233 calls.