P.J. Farrell had a lot to look forward to on Christmas morning. Getting home, waking up his kids, seeing the excitement wash away the tired in their eyes, and watching as they opened the tightly wrapped presents underneath the family tree.
But instead, at about 5 a.m., as he was finishing up his shift as a part-time newspaper courier for The Spokesman-Review, he got a phone call from his wife, Melinda: The house is on fire, come home now.
“My wife, for some reason, she woke up to what sounded like somebody pounding on the door,” Farrell said. “And the door flew open, and there were the firefighters.”
Spokane Fire Department firefighters were called to the home at 1311 E. Baldwin Ave. after a police officer apparently noticed flames shooting from the east side of the Farrell home, which was built in 1898.