SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — A fire at a Spokane Valley apartment complex Friday night displaced 14 people and severely damaged two units, according to fire officials.
Fire officials said a propane barbecue placed too close to flammable materials on a second-story balcony caused the fire, SVFD said no one was hurt in the blaze.
"I recall the smell of fire and the smoke and everything from fires back in New Jersey," said Gloria Lisboa, one of the people displaced by the fire.
Lisboa is a local school bus driver. She wasn't home when the fire started and was shocked when she heard about the flames from a property manager.
"When she spoke to me it left me dumbfounded," Lisboa said. "I couldn't speak, gagged up the way I'm doing now. It's bad. It's not a good feeling to come home and your home is burnt up."
Lisboa is staying at a local hotel with some help from her renter's insurance. Luckily, her belongings made it out mostly unscathed.
"My stuff is all there. Its stinky," Lisboa said. "My walls are all gray, very up to date, stylish. But yeah, it smells bad."
The units around Lisboa's weren't so lucky. Two units were severely damaged, with five other suffered smoke damage and another suffering water damage.
"All the neighbors that I have on the same side as myself, we were all affected," she said. "The apartment above me, I'm on the second floor they're on the third, they have to go out completely because now they have a skylight because the fire went above the rooftop."
The Red Cross said on Saturday that it was helping four families displaced by the fire. The SVFD asks people to not use grills on balconies and to be actively monitoring barbecues while they are in use.