Father, son honored by fire department

The Spokane Valley Fire Department on Monday honored a father and son whose quick actions prevented a fire from spreading in a Liberty Lake home this summer.

Fire Chief Mike Thompson presented Joseph French with a plaque at the Fire Board meeting. French’s son Stokke, 16, couldn’t attend the meeting because of a schedule conflict.

In August, the Frenches were driving on Molter Road when they noticed smoke billowing from the back of a house at 116 N. Wright Blvd.

They could tell by the amount of smoke that this was more serious than a barbecue gone bad.

They stopped and ran to the door to alert the homeowners but no one answered the door. A neighbor called 911 as the father and son went to the back of the house to discover a fire on the back deck.

The fire had already burned through the siding on the house and blown out a window. The Frenches saved the house from further damage by putting out the fire with a garden hose.

They also rescued the homeowners’ dog, which they found trying to escape through the back slider.