SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Fire Department (SFD) shared new video on Tuesday of a deadly house fire in North Central Spokane.
The fire happened on April 20 at about 4 a.m. on the 1700 block of North Howard Street. It claimed the lives of Arielle and Robert “Chip” des Islets, along with their sons Aiden and Christopher.
The released surveillance video came from North Central High School, which is located directly across the street from the burned home. The twelve minute long video shows how quickly it took for the fire to spread.
According to SFD, an electrical malfunction from an old extension cord started the fire. des Islets family members told KREM 2 the cord had been there for decades and the home had been inspected.
However, SFD Public Information Officer Justin de Ruyter said it's worth paying the money for a licensed electrician if homeowners have doubts about the safety of the wiring in their home.
“Even when you get your home inspection done when you buy a home, they're not a licensed electrician and so they [an electrician] can often spot some pretty obvious stuff. And we would say this one was pretty obvious,” said de Ruyter.
He also shared simpler steps, such as closing doors and checking smoke alarms, can go a long way.
In this case, SFD found there were no working smoke alarms inside the home at the time of the fire. They're reminding everyone to check their smoke alarms and replace the batteries if they're dead.
"The smoke production from these fires is very toxic smoke. It doesn't take much smoke at all to incapacitate someone. That's why that early detection, like, you’ve got to have those smoke alarms in place. Seconds count,” said de Ruyter, snapping his fingers to emphasize his point.
According the SFD data, the last time Spokane had a fire this deadly was back in 1995 when four brothers, ranging in age from two to eight years old, died after an unattended candle started a fire.
SFD offers a smoke alarm installation program. For more information, click here.
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