The Spokane Fire Department said six people escaped injury when a fire on the second floor of a west central Spokane home forced them to evacuate early Sunday. The owner of the home said that the renters credit a passerby for their safety.
“We were just driving by from dropping off the kids and I saw on the balcony there was a barbecue and the balcony was on fire,” Rick Trembley said.
Trembley and his fiance, Sandra Beamis will tell you that they must have been in the right place at the right time. They just moved into the neighborhood a week ago and were driving back to their new around 1 a.m. when Trembley spotted the flames.
“He's like, 'There's a fire over there,' and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, call 911,” Beamis said. “So he goes out of the car and starts banging on the door.”
“I had to pound on the front door, the back door,” Trembley recalls.
He said that they must have all been sleeping, because it took a couple of tries to get someone to answer. Minutes later, three adults and three children emerged from the home.
“Once they got out of the house, it went up in flames,” Trembley said. “It ignited.”
Firefighters could see flames coming from the front of the home and the attic when they arrived on scene. Several units of the Spokane Fire Department worked for five hours to ensure the fire was extinguished and posed no threat to the nearby homes.
The fire started on a second-floor balcony on the front of the home. The second floor living space and roof were severely damaged. The bottom has water damage. Total damage is estimated at $45,000, but the devastation could have been worse.