Evening fire causes extensive damage to detached carport

Evening fire causes extensive damage to detached carport

No reported injuries

An early evening fire on the north side of Spokane caused extensive damage to a detached carport. 

 

Last night at 7:21 p.m., the Spokane Fire Department and a crew from Spokane Fire District 9 were dispatched to a reported house fire with adults and 3 children still inside the home. A large column of smoke could be seen by fire crews prior to their arrival. Multiple extra apparatus and personnel were assigned to handle the potential of trapped civilians.

 

Upon arrival, it was quickly determined that all occupants of the structure, including the children, had escaped unharmed. The majority of the fire was found to be in a detached carport at the rear of the home. There was some limited extension of fire into the home, but was quickly extinguished by firefighters.

 

There were no injuries reported to civilians or fire department personnel. 

 

The cause of the fire is currently undetermined and is under investigation by the Spokane Fire Department Special Investigation Unit (SIU).

 

 

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Michele Anderson | Public Safety Communications Manager
Spokane Police Department | Spokane Fire Department

cell 509.742.0063 | office 509.622.5868 | mlanderson@spokanecity.org

 

Media Advisory: Bridging the Gap – Building Trust & Legitimacy

Media Advisory: Bridging the Gap – Building Trust & Legitimacy

 

The Spokane Police Department and Spokane Faith Alliance would like to invite community members and media representatives to attend the next Police & Community Forum. 

 

"We have heard from our community members that the Police & Community Forums have been instrumental in successfully building bridges," says Chief Craig Meidl. "The forums provide an opportunity for participants to engage in a healthy, constructive dialogue and work through issues that can strain relationships between law enforcement and community members."

 

The public forum will include a panel discussion, small-group facilitated discussion, and a question and answer time with the audience.

 

Please see the attached flyer for more information. 

 

What: Police & Community Forum 

 

When: Thursday, February 23 from 6 to 9 p.m.

 

Where: Salvation Army, 222 E. Indiana Ave.

 

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Michele Anderson | Public Safety Communications Manager
Spokane Police Department | Spokane Fire Department

cell 509.742.0063 | office 509.622.5868 | mlanderson@spokanecity.org

 

Working sprinklers make a difference during a fire

Working sprinklers make a difference during a fire

A video captures the start of a commercial fire at downtown Spokane business and highlights the importance of having a working sprinkler system.

 

It is fortunate that a security camera was positioned in such a way to capture the entire life cycle of this fire. It does not happen very often that fire departments get video that shows how a fire might start, how it progresses, and how it can be controlled in a true, unsupervised everyday environment.

 

“This video shows how something that starts out small can quickly escalate without the proper fire suppression systems in place,” says City of Spokane Fire Marshal Michael Miller. “If not for the working sprinkler, this fire could have been much worse. This is another example of why we stress the importance of installing and properly maintaining automatic fire suppression and detection systems.”

 

The video captures a fire that started on January 28, 2016 in the Symons Building (15 S. Howard St.), a four story commercial building. The first indication of a problem can be seen when there is a brief flicker from a light fixture that is located in a main floor storage room. Hot material begins to drip from the fixture to the floor level where it ignited some plastic and consequently moved into the adjacent wood wall. The sprinkler head activated and helped confine the fire to a small area. Fire crews also credit the business for having a clean and orderly storeroom which helped in not providing a lot of fuel to the fire in its earliest stage. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within 20 minutes. No injuries were reported.

 

 

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Michele Anderson | Public Safety Communications Manager
Spokane Police Department | Spokane Fire Department

cell 509.742.0063 | office 509.622.5868 | mlanderson@spokanecity.org