Family of 6 barely makes their way out of house fire
Incident #: 2011033945 Date of Incident: 8/24/2011 Issuing Officer: Bruce Moline/Battalion Chief
Narrative:
On Wednesday August 24th, 2011 at 1:29 A.M. the Spokane Fire Department sent 4 engine companies, a ladder company, a rescue unit and 2 battalion chiefs to a report of a house on fire at 2430 E. Marshall. Engine 7 from their neighborhood station at 1st and Magnolia and Engine 8 from their neighborhood station at Mission and Rebecca arrived together on scene and found a single family dwelling that was filling with smoke rapidly towards the back of the house. They were quickly joined by Ladder 2, Engine 2, Engine 15 and Rescue 1 and discovered a fast spreading kitchen fire that had consumed most of the kitchen and was traveling towards the sleeping areas of the house. The 6 occupants safely made their exit from the home. All occupants had been sleeping at the time of the fire and the mother reportedly woke up in time to safely escort herself and 3 of her children out of the house. The father also woke up shortly after this and rapidly grabbed his 3 year old son from an adjoining room but soon found his exit through the main door was cut off due to the heat and rapidly building smoke. He instead opened a window on the west side of the house and climbed out the window with his son in his arms and made it out to safety. Despite the family's rapid exit through smoke and heat, there were no injuries. The fire was knocked down after approximately 10 minutes but the overhaul phase of the operation took 2 hours. A fire watch company stayed at the home until daylight watching for flare ups and hot spots. A total of 18 firefighters responded on this fire. The Fire Department would like to remind the public to maintain working smoke detectors inside your homes. There were two smoke detectors found inside this dwelling however, the batteries inside the detectors, were not plugged in all the way allowing the detectors to operate normally. Had these detectors operated like they should have, the family would have been alerted much earlier to the rapidly growing fire. The fire began as a result of cooking in a frying pan and then both the mother and father accidentally falling asleep while the stove was still on. This family is extremely fortunate to have survived such a rapidly spreading fire in the middle of the night while sleeping. Just a few moments longer, and the outcome of this fire could have been very different. Please check your smoke detectors, and keep them working to help save lives.
Cause:
While frying food in a frying pan, both adults fell asleep.
Damage:
Smoke damage throughout the dwelling. Heavy fire damage to the kitchen and adjoining living areas.
# Firefighters Responding: 18
Dollar Loss: $40,000
End Of Release For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002
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