Fire results in injuries
<p>Coeur d’Alene firefighters remove debris from an apartment complex in the 4200 block of North Crown Avenue that caught fire early Friday morning. Eight residents, six being children, were transported to Kootenai Health for treatment of injuries.</p>
<p>A firefighter carries children’s toys from an apartment complex in the 4200 block of North Crown Avenue which caught fire early Friday morning. Six children were taken to Kootenai Health for smoke inhalation treatment.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Two people suffered severe injuries from burns and smoke inhalation in an early morning fire Friday that left 12 people homeless.
A burning log rolled out of a fireplace, igniting carpet and furniture in an apartment on the lower level of a four-plex in the 4200 block of Crown Avenue, investigators said. A 28-year-old man and 29-year-old woman injured in the fire were flown to Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle for treatment.
Six children who lived in the four-plex were treated for smoke inhalation, then released.
The Coeur d'Alene Fire Department arrived at the scene just before 6 a.m. and found the apartments engulfed in flames. Firefighters evacuated 12 people and two dogs from the burning apartments.
Richard Besel awoke to the smell of smoke and a neighbor pounding on his door.
His neighbor, who was nearly naked and badly burned, told Besel his apartment was on fire and asked Besel to call 911.
Besel said his neighbor had been burned by falling debris as he was pushing two children out the window of his burning apartment. A woman in the same apartment was also injured in the fire.
Though the victim's main floor apartment and two units on the upper level were gutted by the fire, Besel said his apartment was spared except for damage to two walls.
Corie McNeary's second-story apartment was destroyed, along with all she owned.
The single mother of four woke when her alarm clock went off and noticed her dog was acting strange. She went into her living room and discovered it was full of smoke.
"I heard screaming," she said. "I got my kids and got out."
The American Red Cross was arranging a motel stay for McNeary's family and others left homeless by the blaze. None of the families have renters insurance.
"I'm a single mom on disability," McNeary said, crying. "I can't replace anything."