Garrett Cabeza

The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

(TNS)

Sep. 29—A woman is dead from a motel fire and a suspected arsonist is in jail for another blaze that displaced nearly a dozen residents after the two fires broke out on the same block within 10 hours of each other Tuesday morning on the west end of downtown Spokane.

Andrew E. Gale, 36, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson after lighting clothes on fire and possibly setting off fireworks about 1 a.m. inside a fourth-floor Grand Coulee apartment building unit, causing panic to some residents who thought the sounds were gunshots, according to court documents.

Ten hours later, fire crews responded shortly after 11 a.m. to the Tiki Lodge motel on Second Avenue and Cedar Street, after a motel cleaning staff person noticed smoke coming from a second-floor room, said Spokane Fire Department spokesman Justin de Ruyter. A motel resident kicked the door in and used fire extinguishers to try to put out the flames.

De Ruyter said firefighters arrived three minutes after the call came in and found a small fire they quickly knocked down and contained to the unit. Crews found a dead woman in the room. No one else was injured.

Spokane police and fire vehicles could be seen in the motel parking lot Tuesday afternoon.

Major Crimes Unit is working with Spokane Fire Department investigators to determine the circumstances surrounding the fire, according to a police news release. The Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office will release the name of the woman who died and her cause and manner of death.

A Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service truck was also at the scene. De Ruyter said a cat died in the fire.

Chardonnay, a yellow Labrador ignitable liquid detection dog from Spokane County Fire District 4, sniffed out the room. De Ruyter said the dog is typically summoned to fire fatalities.

Dale Giese and his wife, Crystal Greene, were watching from the parking lot as police and fire personnel worked.

Giese said they were returning from a Spokane Valley laundromat to their room at the Tiki Lodge, where they found the parking lot full of fire trucks and smoke billowing out of a room. They then saw firefighters pull a body out of the room.

"It's a sad day, man," Giese said.

They said they're acquainted with the man who lived in the room that caught fire, but did not know the woman who died.

Giese and Greene were shaken by the fire because they both have experienced house fires.

"PTSD's kicked in a little bit," Giese said.

"Yeah, I'm a little shaky, to be honest," Greene replied.

At the Grand Coulee Apartments on Cedar Street and First Avenue, it all started when Spokane police officers responded shortly after 1 a.m. for a "trouble unknown" call after a 911 caller reported hearing a man yelling and banging sounds inside a fourth-floor apartment, said Officer Tricia Leming, police spokeswoman.

Dispatch notes said a neighbor heard a man yelling for help in his apartment and then frantically running down the hallway screaming for assistance, according to court records. After he ran out, the neighbor heard loud popping noises that sounded like gunshots or fireworks coming from the unit.

Leming said officers found smoke filling the fourth floor and heard loud popping sounds. One officer in court documents noted the sounds sounded like firecrackers and other pops sounded like gunfire.

Officers immediately called the Spokane Fire Department and began evacuating residents from the building, according to a police news release.

One fourth-floor resident told police he woke up to sounds of a man yelling from somewhere in the hallway and heard what he believed were gunshots, so he moved to the back of his apartment to take cover, court records say. The fire alarms in the apartment started to sound, and he later saw smoke coming into his apartment. He stayed in his apartment because he was unsure whether someone was shooting. Firefighters used a ladder truck to evacuate him from the fourth-floor window of the four-story masonry apartment building.

De Ruyter said firefighters assisted another resident from a fire escape.

Fire crews controlled the fire within 20 minutes, de Ruyter said. The unit sustained significant fire damage, while the rest of the fourth floor had heavy smoke damage.

Two residents were evaluated at the scene — one for smoke inhalation and another for injuries sustained falling down the stairs during the evacuation, according to the news release. Neither were taken to the hospital. The American Red Cross was contacted to assist 10 adults and one child displaced by the fire.

Leming said officers quickly detained Gale, who came out of his apartment.

Gale told police he saw one to five people dressed in black enter his residence and try to kill him, so he held onto a door in the apartment to prevent them from reaching him, court documents say. He then armed himself with a knife and used a lighter to light a pile of clothes on fire. While the clothes were on fire, Gale said the intruders "stomped the fire out," causing him to light the fire again.

A short time later, police knocked on his door and Gale raced toward the front door. He said he heard the intruder fire a gun toward him right before he left the apartment. Officers and witnesses who saw Gale leave his apartment did not notice anyone else leave the residence through the front door.

Police located two lighters Gale had on him.

Gale's girlfriend, who was staying with Gale, told police she was awakened by Gale throwing fireworks into the sink, according to court documents. He continued to act with "extreme paranoia" and believed neighbors were trying to hurt both of them, but she did not witness any intruders.

She said she went outside to Gale's vehicle to sleep when police and the fire department arrived. She believed the fire was related to her boyfriend.

Gale was evaluated at the scene for smoke inhalation before being booked into the Spokane County Jail, according to the release.

David Phillips and Gabe Couey, who both live on the fourth floor and who were displaced, were standing outside the apartment building early Tuesday afternoon.

Both said they woke up to police knocking on their door alerting them to the fire and telling them to evacuate.

"I literally woke up and within three seconds I was out of the room," said Couey, who only grabbed his phone.

Phillips said he exited his unit and encountered heavy smoke.

"I could just feel the heat, and it was kind of affecting my breathing and everything," Phillips said of the smoke.

He went down the stairs and ran into two officers on lower floors with their guns drawn asking what he was doing. He told them he was trying to exit.

Police were aware of someone possibly with a gun on the fourth floor.

Phillips said he heard popping sounds that sounded like fireworks as he was evacuating.

Couey said it's unfortunate to be displaced, but he said he had the ability to take time off work and get a motel. He rented a room at the Tiki Lodge, but the room that caught fire and killed a woman was close to the room he rented, so he was unsure whether he would be able to stay there.

Gale made his first appearance Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court on the arson charge and is set for an arraignment Thursday. He remained in jail Tuesday night on a $30,000 bond.

Firefighters credited a closed apartment door with helping contain the fire to the room of origin, according to the release. The fire department reminded people escaping a fire to close doors behind them whenever possible. A closed door can slow the spread of fire and smoke and limit the oxygen available to the fire.

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