SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane County Medical Examiner has identified the 11-year-old boy who died early Monday in a house fire he reportedly started on Rowan Avenue as Jhasoni Wilson.
The fire happened just after midnight about one block east of the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex. The Spokane Fire Department says the boy was lighting things on fire in the basement bedroom he shared with his grandmother.
“Grandma was downstairs in the basement, with the boy she woke up and saw fire in the corner and room was smoked up pretty good by that point,” said Justin DeRuyter of the Spokane Fire Department.
The grandmother tried to find the boy and put out the fire with blankets, but smoke forced her out. She then woke up four other family members upstairs.
“She got upstairs, was able to get there. There was mom and three daughters upstairs on the main floor sleeping. So she’s able to wake them up, and they were all able to self evacuate,” DeRuyter said.
The boy’s mother was taken to the hospital but released shortly after. She told reporters her son was autistic and that she suspected he started the fire.
Firefighters found the boy in the basement and pronounced him dead at the scene. Two dogs and a cat also died in the fire.
Spokane Public Schools confirmed the boy was a student and provided extra counselors at his school. The Red Cross is helping the six displaced family members.
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