Fire sprinkler puts soggy end to balcony barbecue

If you’re planning an apartment balcony barbecue, it’s probably best to keep Spokane Valley firefighters off the guest list.

Of course, the event was already ruined when firefighters arrived Sunday afternoon at the Pheasant Ridge Apartments, 601 S. Woodruff Road.

Fire Marshal Kevin Miller said a propane-fired barbecue grill set off an exterior fire sprinkler and sounded an automatic alarm.

“It put out the barbecue,” Miller said. “It got everything wet on the balcony – including the chef, I would imagine.”

The building was undamaged, but firefighters had to shut down the entire building’s sprinkler system to stop the water flow until the balcony sprinkler head could be replaced. Miller said no replacement was available until the next morning, so the fire department required an overnight fire watch.

“What that entails is somebody has to be awake and have the means of calling 911,” he said.

State officials rejected a controversial 2006 fire code amendment to ban apartment balcony barbecues, but they’re still a bad idea in Miller’s view. If people must have them, charcoal grills are not as bad as propane grills, he said.

The problem with propane is that a flare-up can melt supply hoses and overheat propane tanks to the point that their pressure-relief valves start ejecting the highly-pressurized gas to prevent an explosion.

“Then you have a blow torch,” Miller said. “It’ll put out a 2- or 3-foot flame. You put that against a combustible wall and it won’t take very long for a building to catch on fire.”

That’s what happened several years ago at the Cherry Bluff Apartments, 2405 N. Cherry Road, he said. A cigarette in a flower pot of flammable potting soil ignited a nearby propane barbecue that ignited an apartment building.

“We lost the whole top of one of the buildings that way,” Miller said.

In another apartment incident, on Aug. 21, firefighters were called to deal with water pouring from a ceiling light fixture in the Brookstone Apartments, 13203 E. Valleyway Ave. Miller said firefighters traced the problem to an upper apartment where a plugged toilet was overflowing.

He said the occupant was directed to borrow a toilet plunger and quit flushing feminine hygiene products.

The department’s only actual structure fire in the reporting week that ended Wednesday night was reported shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday at the White Block masonry business, 6219 E. Trent Ave. Thirty firefighters quickly knocked down the fire, which had spread into roof trusses, causing an estimated $10,000 damage.

Miller said a welding torch set off oil spraying from a leak in a high-pressure oil system. He said employees shut off the oil system, but the hot fire had already ignited ceiling beams 20 feet overhead.

By the end of the day, firefighters had logged 238 calls for the week, 192 of which were for emergency medical service.

The department’s biggest fire in the reporting period was the Texas Lake range fire in Whitman County, west of St. John. Miller said the department sent 10 firefighters and officers to the 2,000-acre grass fire Aug. 21 as part of a state mobilization.

Miller said the fire was under control that night, but Spokane Valley firefighters stayed on through Sunday to make sure it didn’t revive.

The smallest fire probably was a rubber ball on the Centennial Trail that someone splashed with a flammable liquid and ignited Sunday evening.

Three vehicle fires included a prospective used-car sale that went badly. Miller said firefighters learned the occupants of a 1995 Chevy Tahoe had been on a test drive Aug. 21 that was cut short near the corner of Broadway Avenue and Fancher Road when the engine compartment burst into flames.

“There was a ‘no sale,’ I’m sure, on that one,” Miller said.

Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $4,500.

A day later, at the Valley 206 Apartments, 2400 N. Wilbur Road, a resident started his 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass about 3:15 p.m. About 30 seconds later, the engine exploded from an undetermined mechanical problem.

Miller said the man tried to put out the subsequent fire with an extinguisher, but couldn’t open the hot, heaved-up hood. Firefighters pried open the hood with a bar.

The car was worth $500 before it burned, Miller said.

A similar fire occurred about 11 that night in the parking lot of the Dollar Store at 15303 E. Sprague. Again, Miller said, firefighters had to pry open the hood. He said the owner was fighting the fire with an extinguisher from the nearby Yoke’s grocery store.

The single hazardous-materials response for the period occurred Aug. 20 when a motorist drove over some debris on Sullivan Road, near Sullivan Park, that punctured his fuel tank. Miller said firefighters used a blob of sticky “plug-and-dike” material to stop the leak.

Firefighters responded to eight vehicle accidents that sent three people to hospitals with minor injuries and hospitalized a motorcycle rider with more serious leg and hip injuries.

Miller said the motorcyclist crashed into a pickup that pulled out in front of him Aug. 20 at Progress Road and Trent Avenue. The next evening, at Thierman Road and Appleway Boulevard, a pedestrian’s foot was run over by a car that knocked her down at low speed.

Firefighters also responded to three fire hydrants that vandals opened. The first, at Adams and Cataldo, occurred about 12:30 a.m. Aug. 20. The other two incidents were at 1 a.m. and 1:45 a.m. at 23rd and Evergreen and at Sharp and Rees.

Tampering with an emergency device can be charged as first-degree malicious mischief, Miller said. He asked that anyone with information call the fire department at 928-1700 or Crime Check at 456-2233.

He said a similar incident in February 2006 washed out a garage foundation, flooded a home and filled a swimming pool with mud.

“We caught those kids, and they’re still paying restitution to the fire department and the homeowners,” Miller said. “It’s not smart.”