SFD Media Release - For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002

Downtown Apartment Fire

Incident #: 2013005486
Date of Incident: 02/04/2013
Issuing Officer: BC Dave Haworth

Narrative:
On Monday, February 04, the Spokane Fire Department dispatched 1 heavy rescue, 7 engines, 3 ladder trucks, and 2 battalion chiefs to  a report of smoke in an apartment building at 123 N Bernard. The caller said the alarm was sounding and there was smoke in the hallway on the second floor. Fire Dispatch advised the tenents to evacuate. First arriving companies from the downtown stations entered the building to ensure all tenents were evacuated and to search for the source of the smoke. A fire was found in one of the units on the second floor. In addition to the crews evacuating the second floor tenents, other crews advanced hose lines to the second floor, evacuated the third and fourth floors, and made sure no fire had extendend from the room of origin. The fire was quickly extinguished and crews spent over an hour removing the smoke from the building. The fire was confined to the room of origin. There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters.

Cause:
The Spokane Fire Department SIU investigated and the cause of this fire has been determined to be accidental. The specific cause is energized electrical cords running under area rugs. The area rugs were located in a well traveled walk way inside the unit. Over time the constant stepping on the cords degraded the cord’s outer jacket insulation allowing an arc, spark or resistive heating to take place. 

Damage:
Damage was confined to the unit of origin with light smoke damage throughout the second floor. All occupants were able to return to their units with the exception of the fire unit tenent.  He will be temporarily house in another unit.

# Firefighters Responding: 35

Dollar Loss: $ 15000

Other Agencies Responding:
Avista, Spokanimal

End Of Release
For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002