DATE OF INCIDENT: 12/24/2008
INCIDENT TYPE: Special Situation
INCIDENT ADDRESS: Sprague & Monroe
CITY: Spokane
STATE: WA
ZIP: 99201
NARRATIVE: The Spokane City Fire Department dispatched a single fire fighting crew and its apparatus to the intersection of Monroe and Sprague at 5:43 in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve for a report of smoke issuing from an electrical vault located underneath the sidewalk on the northwest side of Sprague in front of the new Spokesman Review building. Upon arrival that fire company found active fire and heavy electrical arching in the vault and a request for a full alarm was given at that time. Much of the downtown area of Spokane receives electrical power supplied through these vaults which are outside of buildings and underneath the sidewalks. With these types of high voltage below-grade fires, a major concern for the fire fighters is the very real possibility of fire being communicated to multiple occupancies by the actual wires which are used to carry the electrical supply to other buildings serviced by that vault. As the first-in fire company attempted to extinguish this electrical fire using dry chemical extinguishers, other just arriving companies began gaining entry into the locked buildings situated on all four corners of the intersection to insure that there was no fire spreading into any of those building's basements. All buildings that were inspected showed no indications of fire being spread to them. Traffic in the area, which was heavy and congested due to the amount of new snow that was falling downtown, was made even worse due to the resultant loss of electrical power to the traffic lights at intersections. The loss of power downtown involved a 3-4 square block area which left all buildings in that area without any electricity. The power loss triggered a rash of telephone calls to 9-1-1 and then to the Fire Dispatch Center for alarm systems going off in the affected buildings and in at least two cases, of people being trapped in stalled elevators. The fire in the fault was finally extinguished but fire fighters remained at the scene until a repair team from Avista Utilities could be pieced together on this snowy Christmas Eve. Another huge concern for the Fire Dept. is the well-being of scores of our citizens who live in downtown apartments that are currently without electricity and therefore an incident action plan is being formulated this evening that should provide guidance and some options should the electrical repairs take longer than originally expected. The cause of this electrical fire will be determined by the Avista experts. Fortunately there were no reports of any injuries to civilians or firefighters at the scene.
PROBABLE CAUSE: Under investigation by Avista
DAMAGE EXTENT: The amount of damage to the vault and its contents is still being determined at the time of this release.
DOLLAR LOSS: 00000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 30
MUTUAL AID: None Given
For more information on this release, please call (509)625-7002 and/or check out the SFD Blog at www.spokanefire.blogspot.com
END OF RELEASE
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