Broad St Apartment Fire – City of Spokane, Washington

Broad St Apartment Fire

Commander Tower, 509.625.7100

Friday, March 19, 2021 at 10:52 a.m.

At around 3:00 p.m. Thursday, March 18, units of the Spokane Fire Department (SFD) were dispatched to the 3000 block of E Broad Street because of an apartment fire. 911 received reports of heavy black smoke coming from the back door of the apartment building.

Firefighters arrived in four minutes and discovered that smoke and fire were coming from a window on the first floor of the apartment building and threatened to spread to the neighboring house. The crews quickly attacked the fire from the outside and saved the neighboring house. At this point, fire had spread to the upstairs apartments.

SFD crews did a quick survey of the rest of the building and found that heavy fire from the upper story of the rear of the building set ablaze vehicles on fire. Firefighters suppressed most of the fire at the rear of the building while other crews entered and attacked the internal fires on the lower and upper floors while simultaneously searching the apartment for victims. All occupants had safely exited the building before firefighters arrived.

The fire was quickly extinguished, preventing the fire from spreading to other structures. The apartments on the first and second floors suffered significant smoke, fire and water damage.

The fire displaced six adults and one teenager. The Red Cross has been contacted and is making arrangements for their housing and assistance.

The cause of the fire has been classified as accidental by the Spokane Fire Department Special Investigations Unit.

A reminder of our community; Plan and practice your escape plan. There should be two routes out of any room used for sleeping. Children, older adults, and people with access or functional needs need a lot of extra help to wake up and get off. Have an agreed outdoor meeting point, a safe distance from your home, where firefighters can easily find you.