KXLY
July 2, 2021 7:17 PM Elenee Dao
Updated:
SPOKANE, Wash. – This historic heatwave is killing people in the northwest and some of them are our neighbors. 11 people are now dead; the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office saying they’re likely heat-related.
Four more people were reported dead on Friday morning, and it’s possible that number could keep growing.
The Spokane Fire Department says it’s seeing double the number of calls this week. On average, they get about 120 a day, but during this week of the historic heatwave, they’ve been getting about 240 calls for help each day.
Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer believes many of those calls have some type of connection with the heat.
Spokane Fire Dept. explores funding for permanent fire station in Eagle Crest
The Eagle Ridge development is surrounded by rural forest lands, which puts it at a greater risk of being impacted by wildfires. Author: Amanda Roley Updated: 8:24 PM PDT June 24, 2021
SPOKANE, Wash. Spokane City Fire department wants to build a permanent fire station to serve the Eagle Ridge, Latah Valley area, but have not found a way to fund it yet.
Six years ago, Spokane City Fire Department opened a temporary fire station at the foot of Spokane’s Eagle Ridge development. Station 5 has since reduced response times for the Latah Valley.
KXLY
June 1, 2021 7:41 AM Kaitlin Knapp
SPOKANE, Wash. Get ready for a hot and dry week. Firefighters across Spokane County have already been to several fires this year. This week’s weather has the potential of sparking more.
Spokane could break record temperatures on Tuesday. With that and winds starting to pick up on Thursday, firefighters are staying alert.
“It’s going to be extremely hot, extremely dry,” said Chief Brian Schaeffer with the Spokane Fire Department. “Most of Eastern Washington is in a drought emergency.”
Schaffer said fires have already started to pop up in Spokane.
“Everything so far has been human-caused, oftentimes accidentally,” he said. “Someone’s trying to burn weeds, somebody’s leaving smoking materials too close to combustibles and some people leaving fires unattended.”