SPOKANE, Wash — On the day of the Spokane Area Fires, first responders were stretched thin across three massive fires. And as crews battled one of the worst natural disasters in state history, quick thinking from police and bystanders saved hundreds of more homes near Downriver Golf Course.
But just about two miles south of where the Old Trails Fire crossed the Spokane River in Riverside State Park, two more fires started that day.
According to Spokane Fire, the fires do not appear to have started from an ember shower from the Old Trails Fire.
They are being investigated as a separate, human-caused start.
The first fire started about 1:30 p.m. along West Downriver Park Drive, just feet from the Downriver Golf Course.
Spokane Police bodycam video shows the flames climbing up the hill from the Spokane River, with wind quickly blowing them.
According to Lance Dahl, Assistant Chief of Spokane Fire, the timing of this fire start was key because it was before the Old Trails Fire crossed the Spokane River.
“It came in early enough. It came in before the spotting from the ember showers from the Old Trails into the neighborhood, so we had resources available to throw on that fire,” said Asst. Chief Dahl.
The body cam video shows a Spokane Police Officer asking for rakes and groundskeeping tools from across the fence of the Downriver Golf Course to help fight the flames before fire crews could arrive.
According to Dahl, they were also able to spare an aircraft that was fighting the Old Trails Fire to drop water on it.
The Second Fire
Spokane Fire crews contained the first fire, but about four hours later, a second fire started at the same trailhead.
But this time most of the fire resources were focused a couple miles north.
Our 4 News Now live crews caught the plume of smoke climbing the trees just after 5 p.m.
“Someone had reported seeing a fire from Northwest Boulevard and the Providence area,” said Senior Spokane Police Officer Ryan Skay. “When we got there, we could see the smoke down here at Downriver. So, another officer and I drove down.”
Officer Skay and Officer William Alsept were first on scene.
When they arrived, the pair said about 40 acres were on fire, and the flames were starting to climb the trees.
“Fire resources were obviously stretched really thin that day, and we were kind of it until something could happen or someone else could come help us out,” said Officer Skay.
The officers had no firefighting gear or training.
All they had were small fire extinguishers kept in their cars to try to fight it.
That is until neighbors stepped in.
“When I came down here, I called one of my friends who lives in the community over here and said, ‘hey, if you have any more shovels, we would love them down here because this fire is getting moving quick’,” said Spokane Police Officer William Alsept.
“So we started digging and doing what we could to save what we could, and by that time about 10-15 other residents came down with tools, and we all just started digging trenches and putting out as many flames as we could,” said Officer Skay.
After about 30 minutes of frantic work, the group tamped down the fire enough to contain it before a DNR crew arrived to put it out.
Hundreds of Homes Saved
Putting these fires out may seem like small victories on a day with so much loss, but the loss could have been much greater.
A map made by the California Interagency Incident Management Team shows what could have happened if that first fire start hadn’t been addressed so quickly.
Hundreds more acres could have been burned, wiping out neighborhoods near Downriver along with Spokane’s oldest golf course.
“Yeah, Downriver Golf Course, you got all the homes above Aubrey L. White; it would have followed that section of timber around the corner of the river and then popped up on the ridge there,” said Asst. Chief Dahl.
According to Asst. Chief Dahl, between 400 and 600 extra homes could have burned that day.
Hundreds of families were spared from the tragedy, as so many neighbors are still picking up the pieces from that day.
A situation that could have gotten much worse if it weren’t for quick timing, garden tools, and the luck of good timing.
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