Wall fire caused by leaky pipe

A leaking water pipe inside a wall started a fire Oct. 28 in the 8100 block of East Grace Avenue. The water ran into a light socket and the resulting electrical short caught the wall on fire, said Fire Marshal Kevin Miller of Spokane Valley Fire. The home, however, received only about $1,000 in damage.

A clothes dryer fire was reported the morning of Nov. 1. “It turned out the dryer element failed and caught the clothes on fire,” Miller said. Later that same day a tree fell down on a power line, knocking out power to several homes and setting the tree ablaze. “It was still smoking when the guys got there but the rain, in essence, put it out,” Miller said.

In one of the 218 calls for the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 3 firefighters responded to an accident near Fairview Avenue and Bowdish Road at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 30. A 17-year-old girl drove across a front yard, through a fence and a garden, into a backyard and then hit a tree. She was treated for a facial laceration. “The airbags both deployed,” Miller said, likely lessening her injuries. Spokane Valley Police arrested her for driving under the influence, he said.

The fire department was called to East Valley High School Nov. 2 to deal with an incident that happened the day before. A 13-year-old boy was setting off firecrackers in a urinal and it broke. He was charged with unauthorized use of illegal fireworks, which comes under the authority of the fire department. “Fire and explosions are part of the fire code,” Miller said.

The department was called just after midnight on Oct. 30 by homeowners in the 1900 block of North Greenacres Road who reported a broken water main in front of their house. “It was bubbling up in the road,” Miller said. “They had two feet of water in their basement.” Firefighters tried to help drain water away from the house until water district employees arrived.