One man dead after early morning fire

A 72-year-old man died in an early morning fire in an upstairs bedroom in North Spokane. Jay Richardson was rushed to the hospital after his room in a house on Empire Avenue near Crestline Street caught fire around 4:45 a.m., witnesses said. He died later Wednesday morning, Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said. Ryan Doody, who also lives in the house, said he woke up in the middle of the night smelling smoke. A neighbor was banging on the door telling the men inside that flames were coming from the upstairs window. Doody said he tried to get upstairs to Richardson’s room but couldn’t make it. “Halfway up the stairs to the top the smoke was thick enough you couldn’t breathe,” he said. Richardson was one of four men living in the house, homeowner Dick Stallman said. He was the only one sleeping upstairs. Stallman, 71, is a Vietnam War veteran who’s been taking in other veterans in need of a place to stay since his wife died in 1996. “I took him in off the streets,” he said of Richardson, who’d been living in the house since June. Firefighters had the fire out by 5:15 a.m., Schaeffer said. Other house residents and Stallman’s dog, Deuce, were unharmed. Fire investigators were still on scene at 8 a.m. Wednesday and had not determined a cause for the fire, but Stallman said he believed the fire was caused by Richardson smoking in bed.