Fire, smoke damage one room in duplex

Flames and smoke were found in one half of a duplex in the 10300 block of East Ninth Avenue the morning of Nov. 8. Firefighters were able to confine the fire to one room, but damages are estimated at $60,000. No one was at home at the time of the fire. The cause is under investigation.

A second fire reported last week was less damaging. An industrial building full of smoke in the Spokane Valley Industrial Park just after 5:30 a.m. on Monday turned out to be smoldering scraps inside a milling machine.

The first arriving employee thought the building was on fire and called 911. “It just smoked up the place,” said Spokane Valley Fire Department Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford.

Other incidents from Nov. 7-13.

Nov. 7: The swift water rescue team was called to assist the city of Spokane after someone called to report seeing a man in the water near the T.J. Meenach Bridge. It turned out that the man was fly fishing and the team was canceled.

Nov. 8: Two small campfires were found smoldering in the woods north of the Valley YMCA.

Nov. 9: An elderly couple received minor injuries in a hit-and-run accident in the 1300 block of North Evergreen Road.

Wednesday: A small furnace fire was reported at Kaiser Aluminum. Employees largely had the fire out before firefighters arrived.

An HVAC unit on the roof of a U.S. Bank loan processing center at 5221 E. Third Ave. caught fire. Damage is estimated at $5,000.

By the numbers: Firefighters responded to 225 calls, including 174 emergency medical services calls. It includes a bomb threat at a Liberty Lake hotel, four illegal fires, 19 car accidents, an arson investigation in the city of Spokane and two people locked out of their houses.