Children home alone put out kitchen fire
The small stove top fire reported in the 900 block of South Mamer Road on Dec. 30 wasn’t unusual, but what the fire crews found when they arrived was.
Firefighters reported there were three children waiting outside for them when they arrived, said Spokane Valley Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Rose. The oldest of the children, who were home alone, said they had accidentally locked themselves out of the house after they called 911 to report the fire.
The fire was out when crews got inside the house. The children were allowed to wait inside one of the fire engines to keep warm while crews got the smoke out of the hose, Rose said. A parent was called.
Other calls from
Dec. 28 to Jan. 10
Dec. 28: A driver was extricated from a car that slid off the road and hit a power pole in the 10700 block of East Montgomery Avenue. A woman was rescued from the bottom of a hill in Valley Mission Park after she injured herself in a sledding accident.
Dec. 30: An overloaded electrical circuit caused a fire in a mobile home at 24807 E. Trent Ave. The resident made it out safety after he was alerted to the fire by his cat. The home had smoke detectors, but they were not working.
Jan. 3: A woman called 911 to report a snow drift was blocking the door to her apartment in the 24900 block of East Hawkstone Loop, and she was trapped inside. When a crew arrived she was outside, shoveling snow from the sidewalk. None of the several doors to her apartment were blocked.
Jan. 4: A small fire was reported in an electrical panel at Spokane Industries at 3808 N. Sullivan Road. The business was evacuated as a precaution.
Jan. 7: An employee at Accrafab at 23201 E. Appleway Ave. accidentally mixed two chemicals, creating a cloud of fumes. The building was shut down and evacuated. The Spokane Fire Department hazardous materials team responded to the scene.
Jan. 8: Several bushes were set on fire near a church in the 600 block of North Pines Road shortly before 3:30 a.m. The fire has been ruled arson. Crews responded to a semi car hauler fire on I-90 at the Sprague exit just before 5:30 a.m. The fire, which started in the engine, destroyed the cab of the semi and two of the new vehicles it was hauling.
Jan. 10: A detached garage with an ATV inside was destroyed by fire in the 8500 block of East Mission Avenue. Crews kept the flames from spreading to the nearby home. The cause is believed to be improperly stored gasoline.
By the numbers: Crews responded to 645 calls in the two weeks from Dec. 28 to Jan. 10, including 494 emergency medical services calls. Other responses included 64 car accidents, one child locked inside a running vehicle and a suspected drunken driver needed to be evaluated after crashing at Evergreen Road and I-90.