Fire singes West Valley’s Outdoor Learning Center

An early morning fire singed the outside of one of the buildings housing the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center at 8706 E. Upriver Drive Wednesday, but no animals were harmed. The fire began in a dog kennel on the back deck of a building that houses classrooms, said West Valley School District Superintendent Gene Sementi. An electric warmer in the kennel may have malfunctioned, Sementi said. The West Valley Outdoor Learning Center uses hawks, owls, raptors and some reptiles to teach area students about wildlife. Two passers-by saw the fire just before 5:30 a.m. and called 911. They went inside the building, which had been inadvertently left unlocked, and got two fire extinguishers that they used to put out the fire, Sementi said. An alarm was triggered when they opened the door and a custodian was already on the way when a call came in from the Spokane Valley Fire Department about the fire. “According to the fire department, they got there in the nick of time,” Sementi said of the passers-by. Though the building was primarily used as classroom space, there were a couple of birds and reptiles inside. The fire did not spread inside the building, but there was smoke. All the animals were safely removed, Sementi said. A cat has been living in the dog house that burned. “The cat’s fine,” Sementi said. “It was wandering around wondering where its house is.”