SPOKANE, Wash. — With the new year just days away, most people are saying ‘new year, new me,’ but one family on Spokane’s South Hill is saying ‘new year, new trash can’ instead.
Olivia Lynch and her husband woke in the middle of the night on Sunday to find their garbage and recycling bins on fire.
“It was pretty scary,” said Lynch.
The bins were just a few feet from their house.
Theirs is just the latest in a string of fires that have sparked on the South Hill. Investigators have not yet said if they are all related.
Spokane Fire Department said the Lynch’s bin fires were most likely intentionally set.
“The Fire Department was like, ‘yeah, we’re pretty certain that someone did this. This wasn’t just a weird freak accident,’” said Lynch.
Lynch’s husband ran outside to try to put out the flames.
“I put on a robe and was barefoot, and when I came out onto the porch, [my husband] had already run out there. He was wrapped in a blanket from Christmas, barely had his shoes on, and was trying to spray the fire with the hose. The flames were getting bigger,” said Lynch.
They were able to get the fire under control within a few minutes, but the damage was already done.
Lynch said she just wished whoever was responsible would be more considerate.
“I just wish they would consider that you think you’re doing something stupid, silly or fun, but you didn’t think about the fact that you could have killed a family,” she said.
4 News Now reached out to Spokane Fire Department for comment, but did not hear back by the time this story was published.
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