17 Spokane residents displaced by house fires in 14-hour period

Three Spokane houses caught fire in a 14-hour period Monday and Tuesday and displaced 17 residents and six animals.

The first blaze erupted late Monday afternoon in the Hillyard Neighborhood and displaced six people.

The second fire erupted about 6:40 a.m. Tuesday at a home next door to Jack and Dan’s Bar & Grill, a popular bar near Gonzaga University, and spread to an adjacent home.

Sherman Birdtail, 34, said a neighbor knocked on his 918 E. Sharp Ave. door and alerted him and his family members to the fire in their house. Birdtail was asleep in the basement and didn’t see it at first.

“I started coming to and I started seeing smoke getting pushed through the rocks (near the foundation), and then the next thing you know, the house filled up with a whole bunch of smoke,” Birdtail said.

He grabbed what he could and rushed out of their rental home while his father, who also lives at the home, crawled out a first-floor window to escape the smoke as firefighters arrived, Birdtail said.

He said the fire displaced him and his father, mother, uncle and cousin, who are all adults. The American Red Cross said two cats were also displaced.

Spokane Fire Department spokesman Justin de Ruyter said the blaze started on the back porch, but the cause is still under investigation.

De Ruyter said flames mostly stayed on the outside of the house, but the interior sustained significant smoke damage.

The porch and much of the siding on the back and side of the house were charred, while the windows of the home were boarded up after the fire.

“The whole house is all like a horror movie,” said Birdtail, describing the damage inside and out.

The fire spread to the siding of the house next door, where Gonzaga University students live. Some windows were boarded up Tuesday on the side of that house where the fire burned.

De Ruyter said none of the students were home at the time of the fire.

Dan Nailen, Gonzaga spokesman, said the university is providing six students with housing and dining services until the end of the semester as a result of the fire.

Birdtail said he noticed the fire spreading to his neighbor’s house after he escaped from his home. He started to worry about their safety.

“I didn’t even think about our house here once I saw the neighbors’ house being damaged,” Birdtail said. “I was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ ”

It took fire crews about 30 minutes to bring the fire under control, according to a Spokane Fire Department news release.

Birdtail, a Spokane Community College student, said he lost school materials and most of his clothes in the fire. He said he went to school Tuesday, but was too distracted by the traumatizing fire, so he returned home.

Birdtail, who was born and raised in Spokane, said he’s lived in the home for about four years, and his mother has been there a couple years longer.

“It’s a good community,” Birdtail said of the neighborhood, located just off the Gonzaga campus. “I miss it. I’m sad that we have to leave, because this community’s a great community and it’s helped me grow.”

Although no one was physically injured, Birdtail said he and his family are struggling mentally from the event. He said they are also trying to figure out a place to stay.

In the Hillyard house fire, firefighters responded about 4:40 p.m. to 5324 N. Lacey St., where crews found the front porch engulfed in flames with the fire spreading into the living quarters, the fire department said.

Firefighters searched the home and extinguished the blaze. No one was injured. The building, a converted duplex, sustained heavy smoke damage and some fire damage in both living units.

Investigators determined the fire started on the front porch, caused by discarded cigarettes in potting soil.

Kristin Goodwillie, American Red Cross spokeswoman, said the Red Cross assisted two families living at the Lacey Street duplex. One family comprised two adults and a dog, and the other family was one adult, three children and three animals.

Goodwillie said the Red Cross provided financial aid to families at Lacey Street and Sharp Avenue. They can use the funds for lodging, food or anything else they need, she said. Case workers will also assist the affected families during the long recovery process.

A GoFundMe for one of the families on Lacey Street has raised $1,400 as of Tuesday night. The online fundraiser for Tessa Shaw, a single mother, says the fire “destroyed everything they owned.”

O’Nilah Shaw, one of Tessa’s older children who organized the GoFundMe, wrote that money raised will help cover rent, replace essentials and care for their pets as the family works to rebuild and recover.

“The loss has been overwhelming, and the family is now facing the challenge of rebuilding their lives from scratch,” O’Nilah wrote.