Dog raises alarm during fire at Spokane Valley apartments

A puppy named Bonita is credited with alerting a Spokane Valley family to a fire early Monday that heavily damaged their apartment complex.

Bonita started barking around 9 a.m. when a row of garages at the Broadway Square Apartments, 11910 E. Broadway Ave., caught fire. The racket alerted the dog’s owner, Tara Peters, who was at home with her 4-year-old son, Anthony.

Peters said the fire jumped from the garages and tore through the attic of her family’s second-floor apartment. She, her son and Bonita escaped unharmed.

“I thought we were going to lose everything,” Peters said.

The fire started inside one of the garages and spread to at least six others, causing the roof to collapse over several of them. A neighbor called 911, and Spokane Valley firefighters sounded a second alarm when the blaze spread to the apartment building, which is not connected.

The damage was worst in the Peters’ apartment. Three others were damaged; one was vacant. The flames also scorched tree branches overhead. No injuries were reported.

Spokane Valley Fire Capt. Jeff Bordwell said the fire is under investigation, though it is not considered suspicious even as several neighbors speculated drug activity was involved.

“I’ll say this: Anything could be in that garage,” Bordwell said. “I don’t know if it was ammunition or cans of something or what.”

The structural damage alone could cost up to $150,000, Bordwell said. The fire also damaged many personal belongings.

“Most of my clothes are in that garage,” said Jennifer Akers, who lives in one of the undamaged apartments with her 8-year-old nephew. There were boxes of family photos, too, she said while waiting to survey the damage.

Akers said she heard many loud popping sounds coming from the garage where the fire started.

“I honestly thought some kids were setting off some firecrackers right by my window,” she said.

Fifteen engines from the Spokane Valley Fire Department and rural Districts 8 and 9 responded to the fire. Firefighters could be seen dismantling the charred garages and cutting into the attic of the apartment building with chain saws.

Peters’ husband, Steven, was at work when the fire started. Coincidentally, he repairs fire- and water-damaged buildings for the Spokane Valley company Covington Construction & Restoration. Company employees were at the scene bidding to repair the apartments.

“Bonita saved everybody,” Steven Peters said, holding Anthony, who was visibly shaken. “Without her, we wouldn’t have known about the fire.”