Burning beehive a bad idea

A Spokane Valley homeowner learned this week that bees and gasoline don’t mix.

Spokane Valley Fire Department crews were called to the 18500 block of East Mission Avenue at 2:18 p.m. on Sept. 25 after the homeowner tried an unusual method to get rid of a beehive in a bush. “He thought he’d get rid of them by dumping gasoline on them and setting the bushes on fire,” said Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford. “He was sure educated that this was not the right thing to do.”

A cooking fire was reported at an apartment complex in the 2400 block on North Wilbur Street on Sept. 28 just after 8 p.m. Food in a frying pan caught fire. “Somebody was taking it out of the apartment and ended up getting their hands burned,” Clifford said.

Three car fires were reported the week of Sept. 22-28 and all three were in the engine compartments. The largest of the three was an older RV that was on fire at 11:42 a.m. on Sept. 22 at the westbound off-ramp at Argonne Road and I-90. “They were having some engine troubles,” Clifford said. “They were able to stop the motor home and get out before it burst into flames.”

The department responded to 236 calls during the week, which is higher than normal. The number was driven upward in part by the 180 EMS calls that came in. There were also 16 car accidents that sent eight people to the hospital.

Someone reported an open fire hydrant on North Idaho Road at 3:26 a.m. on Sept. 24. A crew found a pair of vise grips that someone had used to open the hydrant, Clifford said. Firefighters use a special wrench to open the hydrants and if someone uses something else to open a hydrant it can be damaged badly enough that it would need to be replaced, he said.