One dead, one injured in Cheney mobile home fire

One person died and another was injured in a mobile home fire Monday night in Cheney.

Cheney Fire Department Chief Thomas Jenkins said firefighters were notified of the fire at 10 Vine St., just off State Route 904, at about 10:45 p.m.

The first fire truck responded in 3½ minutes, and crews found the home in flames.

One man who was in the home was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, and another person, possibly the man’s girlfriend, was found dead. Jenkins said the man told him his girlfriend was the only other person inside the home when it caught fire. 

The identities of the deceased person and the hospitalized survivor have not been disclosed.

The structure was a total loss.

Jenkins estimated it took 40 minutes to extinguish the flames.

The blaze set a nearby pine tree on fire, which in turn set a power line on fire, according to Jenkins. The power line burned and fell to the ground, creating an initial hazard and forcing firefighters to work around it, Jenkins said. 

A chain link fence on one side of the house and railroad tracks behind the home limited firefighters’ access to the fire. 

Jenkins said firefighters sprayed water on an adjacent mobile home, which was steaming from the intense heat supplied by the home that was engulfed in flames. Crews prevented the nearby home from catching on fire. 

Jenkins said he believed the fire to be accidental. Spokane Fire Department fire investigators and law enforcement are investigating the cause of the fire.

Spokane County fire districts 3 and 10 and the Airway Heights Fire Department also responded to the fire, Jenkins said.