Two hurt in Spokane Valley apartment fire

May 13—More than a dozen Spokane Valley residents were displaced early Monday in a blaze that destroyed six apartment units.

Firefighters were called to the E building of Aspen Village Apartments, 15821 E. Fourth Ave., about 1:30 a.m., the Spokane Valley Fire Department said in a news release.

Spokane Valley Fire Battalion Chief John Leavell said responding firefighters could see the smoke and flames rising from the building well before they pulled into the lot.

"It wasn't just one side, it was up and all the way over to the end of the apartment building," Leavell said. "So there was a lot of fire right away."

The fire department quickly escalated it to a three-alarm fire due to the size and severity of the blaze and the injuries sustained by two tenants, Leavell said.

Both had left the hospital by Monday afternoon, Leavell said at a news conference.

Leavell said Monday afternoon the cause of the fire, and where it originated, is unknown. The time of day the fire broke out may account for its scale, he added.

"When we got here, there were audible smoke alarms going off inside the apartments," Leavell said. "But until then, if everybody's asleep, nobody's gonna see it, and it'll have a chance to grow."

Spokane Valley Fire received support from the Spokane Fire Department and Spokane County Fire Districts 8 and 9 to keep the fire from jumping to adjacent buildings. The apartment building roughly 100 feet behind the E building sustained significant heat damage, but Leavell said it was not severe enough to displace any residents.

The plastic siding on the building clung there loosely Monday afternoon, some pieces drifting with the wind like tissue paper.

The initial call to the fire department came from an apartment complex employee who saw the blaze, contacted emergency services and then proceeded to go door to door to alert residents and help get them out, Leavell said. Other neighbors also knocked on doors to help evacuate the apartments.

Leavell said the building was equipped with working smoke alarms, which, combined with neighbors alerting each other, likely prevented more serious injuries or deaths from occurring early Monday morning.

"I can't stress enough the importance of smoke detectors, sleeping with your bedroom doors closed and making sure that you have a plan to get out in case this does happen to you," Leavell said.

Four pets died in the fire, Leavell said. Two were rescued: a cat who was taken to an emergency veterinary care facility and a bearded dragon.

Kelsey Rasmussen said she's lived in the complex for almost nine years, in an apartment across the parking lot from the burned building. Her roommate woke her up last night around 2 a.m. to alert her of the fire. She could smell smoke and saw the lights of the fire engines drifting through her open window.

"When I walked out the front door, you could see the whole place going up," Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said her heart goes out to those who lost their animal companions, and that she wouldn't know what to do if she lost her pet guinea pig, Mustang.

"Losing an animal is an awful scenario," she said, adding that she's glad all of her neighbors were able to make it out with their lives. The complex is home to a lot of families, Rasmussen said.

The Red Cross was contacted to assist 15 to 20 residents who were displaced by the fire, and volunteers with the organization spent much of the day at the complex's clubhouse to connect with those affected.

Summer Warfield, disaster program manager with the Spokane chapter of the Red Cross, said the organization will assist the displaced residents with securing a place to stay, medical care needs and accessing mental health care.

Warfield said the mental health and spiritual care the organization provides often may be overlooked, but they serve a vital role in helping someone recover from the traumatizing experience of a house fire.

"Volunteers will reach out to continue working with those individuals who might need that," Warfield said. "Especially the ones who this was very upsetting for, like those who lost a pet. When you lose a pet, especially if that's your companion, that's a huge impact on somebody's mental health."

There have been a number of Spokane County residents displaced by similar fires this year. Eight people died in Spokane County in house fires in April, including a family of four.

Warfield said the recent string of fires has put some strain on the organization at the local level. The Red Cross designates a group of volunteers respond to each house fire in the county. During the warmer months, other volunteers respond to wildfires and help support staging areas and shelters for those affected.

"Depending on how much is going on, that can spread our volunteers thin," Warfield said.

Those displaced by the fire, or interested in donating resources or volunteering, can reach the Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS, Warfield said. She said the Spokane chapter will continue to help those affected by Monday's fire in the weeks to come.

Reporter Alex Duggan contributed to this article.