Fire destroys apartment building

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – A Monday evening blaze on May 10 destroyed a single-level apartment building in the 12000 block of West Sunset Highway.

Deputy Chief Andre Steevens with the Airway Heights Fire Department told the Free Press the in an email the fire broke out around 8:34 p.m. He said crews encountered heavy fire upon arriving at the secured structure. The four-unit building had been vacant for some time.

Steevens said crews concentrated on preventing the fire from spreading to the businesses next door.

“Our focus was to protect the exposure to the east which is a strip mall with four businesses,” he said. “We were assisted by Spokane County Fire District 10, SCFD3, Airway Heights Police Department and Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.”

According to Steevens the fire was extinguished pretty quickly, but crews were on scene until the following morning to eliminate hot spots flaring up.

“The fire was mostly extinguished in about two hours. We had spot fires mostly in the attic space until about 4 a.m,” Steevens said. “Highway 2 was closed for about 1.5 hours. The building is a complete loss but the strip mall about 15 feet away was unharmed thanks to our firefighters as well as SCFD10, SCFD 3 and AHPD personnel.”