More than 60 people displaced in downtown Spokane apartment fire

Some 62 people were displaced Wednesday in a downtown building fire.

Spokesman Fire Department Deputy Chief Ryan Reding said significant water damage from the overhead sprinklers and firefighter hose water led to the evacuation of the Coeur d’Alene Plaza Apartments. The sprinklers took longer to shut off because the building at 228 N. Howard St. is so old.

The fire started on the sixth floor and was largely contained to a kitchen inside of an apartment, Reding said. No one that he knows of was injured in the blaze.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Wednesday’s fire was the second to displace residents in two days in downtown Spokane.

On Tuesday, nine people were displaced from the nearby Ridpath Club Apartments after a fire broke out in a fifth-floor unit, Spokane firefighters have said. In that incident, water damage also led to the displacement.