Fire department busy with 17 auto accidents

Auto accidents topped the charts for crews from the Spokane Valley Fire Department the week of March 24-30.

Firefighters responded to a fatal accident under the Barker Road overpass at 3:07 a.m. on March 25. A woman was going the wrong way in the eastbound lanes and hit a car head on. The driver of the car that was hit died of his injuries. “They had to extricate that person out of the vehicle,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford. “It looked like the vehicle was pretty much wrapped around him.”

There were a total of 17 car accidents during the week. One of the others was investigated by the Washington State Patrol because it involved a fire engine. “It was right across the street in the University City parking lot,” Clifford said.

The engine was using an access that goes past The Luxury Box to connect to Appleway. “A person driving a vehicle failed to yield for the fire truck and they ran into the side of the fire truck,” Clifford said. The accident caused about $9,800 in damage to the engine and the driver was arrested for driving under the influence.

There were no major fires during the week, just a small collection of chimney fires and illegal backyard fires. The department did respond to a natural gas line break caused by a construction crew in Greenacres on Monday. The technical rescue crew was also called in to shore up a trench so a repair crew could go in and fix the break.

There were a total of 197 calls, with EMS calls dropping to 152. “We’re back down to about normal,” said Clifford.