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By Lee Hughes
Staff reporter 

Fire displaces Cheney family

Medical Lake teacher’s home burns in New Year’s Eve blaze

 

Last updated 1/14/2020 at 10:59pm



CHENEY — A Cheney family were displaced from their home after a New Year’s Eve fire made their rental home uninhabitable.

Medical Lake Middle School special education teacher Ben Hill and his three children weren’t home when a passerby noticed the fire and dialed 911 between 6:30 – 7 p.m., according to Cheney Fire Department’s Lt. Tim Steiner, the incident commander on the blaze on the 400 block of North 6th Street.

Firefighters from Cheney and Spokane County Fire District 3 were able to quickly contain the fire to a single room but had to remove part of the ceiling to ensure the fire hadn’t spread, according to Steiner.

“They’re going to be out of the house for a while,” he said.

Fire officials didn’t have to go far to notify the occupant about the fire — Hill is also a volunteer firefighter and chaplain for District 3.

He and his family are currently staying in a hotel while they search for another home, according to Lisa Lemire, Hill’s coworker at the middle school.

Hill had the task of informing his wife, a paraeducator at the Medical Lake School District, who was out of town, of the fire, according to Lemire.

“I don’t think they will even be able to get back into it,” she said of the damaged home, adding that housewares and other belongings didn’t appear salvageable.

Teachers and staff at the Medical Lake School District are helping to pay for the hotel and to get the family back on their feet “as much as we can,” Lemire said.

An account has been established in the Hill’s name at Spokane Teachers Credit Union for donations to help the family recover, according to Lemire.

A GoFundMe page has also been created under Hill Family Fire Support Fund.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the account had reached $7,620 of its $10,000 goal.

Lemire added that Hill is known as a favorite teacher with a big heart among students at the middle school, and among all his other activities, is also a multi-sport middle school coach.

Lemire shared a story about Hill to illustrate his character. While she and other teachers were attending a conference in Las Vegas they came upon a homeless person whose feet bare feet were damaged by the hot concrete and asphalt. She said she watched as Hill removed his shoes and gave them to the person.

“They are just really great people,” Lemire said. “They would help people out in a moment, but if you ask, he will say he doesn’t need anything.”

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.

 

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