Fire damages three houses early Sunday

Drivers on I-90 reported smoke from Fifth Avenue Homes

Brian Schaeffer, Assistant Chief, 509.625.7002


Sunday, March 29, 2015 at 9:26 p.m.


Updated April 20, 2015

A fire that damaged three homes in the 300 block of East Fifth Avenue early Sunday morning is under investigation.

More than 40 firefighters contained the blaze to the three homes and extinguished the fires in two hours. No injuries were reported.

Fire Communications received multiple reports from drivers on I-90 of smoke coming from three homes, 351, 359 and 363 East Fifth Avenue just after 6 a.m. Firefighters arrived to find heavy fire on all floors of the three structures. Second and third alarms were quickly requested due to the fire's increasing intensity and threat to adjacent businesses.

Despite intense flames reaching skyward and threatening adjacent businesses, companies successfully confined the greater alarm blaze to the original structures, preventing it from consuming the majority of the structures.

Fire loss is still being estimated. The cause of the fires is still being investigated.