SPOKANE, Wash. — The rubble left over from a crash that destroyed two buildings on South Freya briefly caught fire Monday afternoon.
A viewer sent KREM 2 a video showing a firefighter spraying the rubble with a fire hose as black smoke rose from the debris. It's unclear at this point why the rubble caught fire.
The Spokane Police Department identified the driver as 48-year-old McGavin Medrain. He is charged with vehicular assault and is currently in the Spokane County Jail. Medrain is being held on $250,000 bond and made his first court appearance Monday afternoon.
The dump truck hit six vehicles just before noon on Friday before crashing through the Liberty Tax Service building and the Dutch Bros Coffee stand on Freya Street, Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said. Both buildings sustained "catastrophic structural damage" and are a total loss, he added. Spokane police wrote in a Facebook post that the first building was unoccupied, while employees and customers were in and around the Dutch Bros stand.
Seven people ranging in age from children to adults were injured in the crash, with at least one person taken to a hospital, authorities said. None of the injuries are life-threatening. Kevin Parker, who owns the Dutch Bros stand, said one of his employees suffered a broken hip.
The owner of the stand, Kevin Parker, posted a statement on Facebook Saturday. He wrote that police and firefighters told him it was a miracle no one lost their life.
"There is no question losing a stand is a blow, but frankly it pails in comparison when considering multiple lives were spared by a miracle yesterday," he wrote in the post.