SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County Fire District 9 is still trying to figure out what caused a fire at a new apartment complex under construction in north Spokane Sunday morning.
The fire burned two apartment buildings and damaged one, threatening nearby businesses. The fire district said it will continue its investigation Tuesday by starting to look through the debris.
“It’s a hazardous area, a lot of heat,” Battalion Chief Matthew Von Steuben said. “Whenever you have buildings like this that go down, as you can see, there’s lots of debris around the area, so they’ll have to navigate their way through that.”
The fire district said nobody was inside any of the apartment buildings during the fire. It took three different fire departments about 10 hours to put it out.
Crews were concerned about the fire spreading to nearby businesses. Some of those businesses evacuated or closed for the day.
“It looks horrible,” said Tiffany Finesilver, who frequents the YMCA next door. “It’s a devastating fire. I can’t imagine how much money was lost and how far back they’re being set.”
Finesilver said the situation has her concerned about community safety.
“Given all the fires and things that we’ve had lately, it just makes me feel really worried that arson could potentially be on the rise,” she said. “Like an attention-seeking sort of thing that someone might do.”
The fire district does not have a timeline for when the investigation is expected to wrap up.
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