Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 11:21 a.m.
Just before 6:00 a.m., the Spokane Fire Department responded to the 3000 block of E. Wellesley Ave. on a report of a structure fire at an abandoned commercial building.
Arriving crews advised of heavy smoke coming from the building and quickly upgraded the fire in order to receive additional resources to help battle the blaze, including assistance from Spokane Fire District 9 and the Spokane Valley Fire Department.
“One man escaped from the building and advised us that there might be another person inside,” says Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer. “Heavy fire conditions and the potential for a collapse has hindered firefighters from being able to conduct a search of the building. Thermal imaging equipment was used to check for additional people, but so far nobody has been located.”
The building has been vacant for a quite some time, but there have been reports of homeless individuals taking shelter inside.
Crews defensively attacked the fire in order to contain it to the one building and limit it from escaping to adjacent structures. The fire department’s drone was used to determine the progress and severity of the fire once initial action had been taken. The aggressive fire combined with construction characteristics of the building have made it extremely difficult for firefighters to get to the seat of the fire.
The incident has caused the closure of E. Wellesley Ave. from N. Market St. to N. Haven St. while firefighters worked to contain the fire. The street closure is anticipated to be in place for several hours.
Firefighters will remain on scene for several more hours.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Spokane Fire Department’s Special Investigation Unit.
