Thursday, January 05, 2012

Fire Press Release

Early Morning Historic Residence Fire

Incident #: 2012000167
Date of Incident: 1/2/2012
Issuing Officer: AC Schaeffer

Narrative:
On January 2, 2012 at 06:52AM, 8 Companies of Spokane Firefighters, 2 Senior Ladders, 5 Engines, 1 Heavy Rescue under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Green and Jones, responded to a Structure Fire at 506 West Sumner on Spokane's South Hill. Initially, a single Engine was dispatched to an automatic residential alarm. Engine 9 from the lower South Hill's Fire Station arrived within minutes and reported smoke showing from the upper floors of the 87-year old historic mansion. The incident was upgraded to a "working fire" as over 28 Spokane Firefighters quickly descended upon the three-story home for what was confirmed by first arriving resources as a quick moving fire in the second and third floors. Because of the building's compartmentalized construction and its complexity in design, the fire was able to gather energy and create violent fire behavior as it consumed combustibles in bedrooms and hallways. Great lengths were taken to keep this Spokane area landmark and historical content safe from extensive damage. Thanks to an aggressive fire-attack, coupled with skillful work by ladder companies, Firefighters were able to fully extinguish the fire in just one hour. There were no occupants in the residence at the time of the fire and no reported injuries to firefighters as a result of this incident.

Cause:
Firefighters successfully confined the fire which limited damage to predominately the northwest sections of the second floor.

Damage:
The exact cause remains under active investigation by SFD's SIU. Dollar loss and damage estimates were not yet available.

# Firefighters Responding: 28

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

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