Puppies die after fire sweeps through storage space in Spangle

Firefighters on Thursday extinguished a blaze that killed six dogs and destroyed a storage unit in Spangle.

A litter of five newly born puppies, which were bloodhound and chihuahua mix, were inside as well as their parents, said Aaron Bollar, battalion chief with the Spokane County Fire District No. 3.

All five puppies and the male adult – a chihuahua – died, he said. Neighbors took the female adult dog to a nearby veterinary clinic, Bollar said.

The garage served as a detached storage barn for a family in Spangle, Bollar said.

When crews arrived on scene about 9 a.m. Thursday the structure was engulfed in flames, Bollar said.

“If it wasn’t for the first responding crews getting there so quickly, we would have seen it spread to other structures,” Bollar said.

The unit was “a complete loss,” he said, adding no other primary structures were lost, and no firefighters were injured.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, Bollar said. A heat lamp was found inside the unit after crews extinguished the blaze, but Bollar said they have not determined whether the lamp caused the fire.