Porta-potty units burn

COEUR d'ALENE - Police and firefighters responded Friday evening to a report that two portable toilets were on fire at a construction site in Coeur d'Alene.

The porta-potty units were fully engulfed in flames when police officers arrived at the new Fairway Meadows apartment complex off Ramsey Road just north of Kathleen Avenue.

"Both units were melted to the ground and spattering flaming plastic throughout the parking lot," states the police report.

Coeur d'Alene firefighters extinguished the flames and determined, according to the police report, that the cause of the fires was suspicious.

Fire Chief Kenny Gabriel told The Press that portable toilet units are quick to be engulfed, because they are all plastic.

But when the fire reaches the liquid level, these types of fires usually go out.

Police investigators were advised by the site supervisor that there are surveillance cameras in the parking lot, but the portable toilets are outside the cameras' view.

The units have an estimated value of about $1,000 each.

Gabriel said it's not uncommon for his department to be called out to a porta-potty fire.

"We go to a handful a year. They are an easy target for vandals," Gabriel said.