Investigators search mansion fire debris
Brian Walker | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 years, 11 months AGO
<p>Firefighters continue to attack the smoldering Wallace home Thursday. The mansion on the Spokane River in Post Falls erupted in flames earlier that morning. The home was slated to be foreclosed on today, Friday. A police and fire investigation is under way.</p>
POST FALLS - Investigators this morning started to sift through the fire debris in hopes of determining the cause of Thursday's fire that destroyed an 11,000-square-foot, $1.54 million mansion on the Spokane River in Post Falls next to the "Amway house."
"We're now digging through trying to determine a cause - however long that takes," said Dan Ryan of Kootenai County Fire and Rescue. "With that much damage done, it may take several days. We don't know anything yet and the investigation continues."
The home at 1504 E. Plaza owned by Len and Pam Wallace was scheduled to be foreclosed upon today.
Len is also going through bankruptcy.
Wallace speculated that the fire may have been associated with one of seven fireplaces in the home. He said no one was home when the fire started.
KCFR and Post Falls Police are collaborating on the investigation.
"That's not uncommon when you look at this much dollar loss," Ryan said. "We want to make sure all the bases are covered and we get the right outcome."
Ryan said investigators didn't start looking through remains on Thursday afternoon because the structure was unsafe to do so.
"By the time we got the fire out yesterday it was nearly dark, so we just maintained security over night and went back to work (this morning)," he said.
Wallace said he's also going through bankruptcy proceedings because he was a victim of what he believes was a business fraud in Montana. He said he invested in a company, and after he tried to get out and get his money back, there was a judgment against him.
Wallace filed a suit against the company, MagTrac Bolus, LLC. The case went into arbitration and MagTrac was awarded $2.5 million in damages from Wallace.
Wallace then made five unsuccessful appeals to the Montana Supreme Court.
Wallace operated the controversial Big Velvet Ranch in the 1990s south of Darby, Mont. It was an enclosed 2,000-acre elk farm used for "shoot for pay" hunting.
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