Region in brief: Hospital’s second growth bid denied
State regulators have for a second time denied a request by Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for permission to add 152 adult acute care beds.
Hospital executives said this week they would appeal.
Sacred Heart is seeking approval from the Washington Department of Health to spend $175 million on a six-year plan that would add four floors to the hospital’s west wing, expand the emergency department and top that with two extra floors.
The hospital has been largely full for the past year and its leaders say it needs to grow to meet demand.
Health regulators, however, have examined all of Spokane’s hospitals and determined that there are ample empty licensed beds to meet the community’s need.
Sacred Heart’s appeal will be heard by an administrative law judge.
Resident injured using hose on fire
A man was burned Wednesday morning when he attempted to knock down a second-story residential fire with a garden hose, Spokane fire officials said.
The man was taken to a Spokane hospital after firefighters treated the injury at the scene of the 5:22 a.m. fire at 3303 S. Inland Empire Way. The injury occurred when part of the burning building fell onto him, firefighters said.
The wood-frame dwelling was burning from the second floor when firefighters arrived. They quickly knocked down the fire and ventilated the roof with chain saws. Twelve engines and 33 firefighters responded. The cause was under investigation. The property loss was estimated at $90,000.
The American Red Cross is assisting the six adults and five dogs living there, according to a press release.
Two men charged in robbery spree
Two men accused of robbing a cash store were charged with a string of gunpoint robberies Wednesday.
The crime spree ended with a robbery at a north Spokane Check Into Cash on July 27, according to the Spokane Police Department.
Daniel I. Neace, 19, and Nathan J. Molina, 21, were arrested that day; Michael J. Anderson, 21, was arrested a day later.
Neace and Anderson appeared in Spokane County Superior Court via video Wednesday on two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of attempted first-degree robbery and three counts of unlawful imprisonment.
Molina is awaiting his first court appearance.
The charges are connected to robberies at Domino’s Pizza, 726 W. Third Ave., on July 11 and Pizza Pipeline, 1724 W. Wellesley Ave., on July 19, and an attempted robbery at Esmeralda Golf Course on July 24.
Alert saves home, residents from fire
A 100-year-old house in Pullman was saved from fire Wednesday and its residents safely evacuated by the quick action of two public school employees.
Bob Hawley, who works for Pullman School District, saw smoke coming from the roof of the house at 230 SW State St. and called 911 at 6:44 a.m., according to a news release from Rich Dragoo, fire prevention officer in Pullman.
Lester Erwin, who was working at nearby Sunnyside School, heard the fire call through the alarm pager he carries as fire chief of Whitman County Fire District No. 12.
Erwin and Hawley alerted the owner and a downstairs renter, and both occupants escaped safely.
Firefighters confined the fire to the attic.