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Apartment house fire aftermath

On Saturday, July 14, 2007 at 03:20 AM, 6 Companies of Spokane Firefighters, 7 Engines, 3 Senior Ladders, 1 Pumper-Ladder and 1 Heavy Rescue under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Brown and Moline responded to a reported fire in an apartment. The first company arrived within six-minutes (Station 11 was the closest station to the alarm, however they were already committed to another EMS call) to discover heavy smoke showing from the third floor apartment of a 3-story, 14-unit wood-frame apartment complex. Initial companies were utilized to simultaneously search the apartments on all three floors for victims and attack the fire. Due to the sheer number of residents, quickly escalating fire and deteriorating conditions the Incident Commander ordered a second alarm which assigned the abovementioned resources. Despite the amount of heat and head-start the fire had on first arriving companies, Firefighters were able to confine the blaze to the third floor, with only ancillary damage to units adjoining and below. The fire was under control in approximately 45 minutes. The presence of a functional smoke detector alerted other tenants of the apartment building which immediately called 911 and allowed them to escape the quick moving fire. One resident of the unit where the fire originated suffered second degree burns and was treated by SFD Paramedics and transported to Sacred Heart Hospital. A firefighter also received a musculoskeletal injury during the incident and was transported to Deaconess Hospital where he is still receiving care at the time of this release.

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Uploaded on August 31, 2009