Several fires among 280 emergency calls

A house was destroyed and a big pile of railroad ties burned for two days in what was a busy week for the Spokane Valley Fire Department.

The department had 280 calls in the seven days that ended Wednesday, “Which is pretty darn busy for us,” Fire Marshal Kevin Miller said.

He said investigators weren’t able to determine what caused the railroad ties and other debris to burn Sept. 11 at Sprague Avenue and Custer Street, near the Spokane County fairgrounds.

The fire, visible for miles, was reported about 5:45 p.m.

“Most likely it was a careless cigarette or an intentional act,” Miller said, noting no accidental cause could be identified.

The evidence was destroyed when efforts to extinguish the fire were abandoned and it burned for two days. Firefighters, in consultation with the state Department of Ecology, determined it would be better to risk having creosote and other toxic chemicals in the air than in groundwater.

Wal-Mart, which bought the former railroad land as a possible Sam’s Club site, hired a contractor to remove any debris that remained after the fire, Miller said.

No one was injured when fire destroyed a home in the 2000 block of North Hodges Road last Saturday. Miller said investigators haven’t determined what started the fire in the home’s utility room.

“Right now, we’re suspecting the dryer,” he said.

Firefighters responded to five illegal backyard fires that violated a burning ban that will remain in effect until mid-November, Miller said.

He said firefighters responded two a dozen brush fires, including two on Wednesday that required more than one truck. Children are suspected in both.

One of the more serious brush fires occurred about 4:30 p.m. on the hills behind Central Valley High School, in the 17000 block of East 17th Court. Miller said the 50-by-100-foot fire “put up a lot of smoke, and we were lucky that it didn’t get up into the trees.

“There was a red-flag warning for low humidity, but we were lucky enough not to get the wind associated with the red flag, so that could have been a lot different,” Miller said.

He said there were “lots of kids pointing fingers at each other, so we’re pretty sure it was kid-caused.”

An hour and a half later, numerous small brush fires were reported near a water reservoir in the 2500 block of North Pines Road.

The department responded to 220 calls for emergency medical service and 18 vehicle accidents. Seven of the accidents, including two car-pedestrian collisions, sent people to hospitals.

Miller said a man who was struck while crossing Sullivan Road at Fourth Avenue on Sept. 12 complained of back and foot pain.

No condition information was available on another pedestrian who was hit. An ambulance reached him before firefighters arrived. That accident occurred about 4 p.m. Wednesday at the corner of Sprague Avenue and Havana Street.

A female motorcyclist was taken to a hospital with leg pain when her bike struck a tree on Sullivan Road, just south of Sprague Avenue, about 5:20 p.m. Sept. 11.

Sixteen alarm-system calls were unfounded, and six hazardous-materials calls were mostly minor.

One of the hazmat calls involved a gas line that was broken when a car crashed into a house about 8:45 p.m. Sept. 11 at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Mayhew Road.

Miller said the only call for general service involved helping a woman whose motorized wheelchair got stuck on the wheelchair ramp at her home.