Blaze Damages Old Cannery Site

An old juice cannery building caught fire Sunday, with flames burning through part of a wall and much of the inside ceiling.

Post Falls firefighters used foam to douse the flames smoldering through the building’s sawdust insulation. The building is adjacent to Treaty Rock State Park near Seltice Way and Catherine Street.

Post Falls fire Capt. Chuck Knapp called the fire suspicious, because there was no power to the vacant building.

“I just knew it was a matter of time before this happened,” he said. “The doors were all open, and everything.” Knapp said he was so sure the place would eventually burn that he drove to the site four months ago and plotted how to fight a fire there.

Bystander Kerry Watson watched sparrows and a bat fly out of the smoking building. “I feel sorry for the birds,” she said.

William Mundy of Coeur d’Alene was driving by on Interstate 90 when he saw flames shooting up from the back of the building. He watched firefighters, carrying a chain saw and ax, clamber up a ladder.

“It’s a good practice for them,” he said. , DataTimes