By Brenda Starkey
Chronicle staff

     CURLEW – An early morning blaze at the old schoolhouse apartments sent two people to the hospital and displaced 18 families Tuesday morning, just three days before Christmas.
     The Dec. 22 fire was reported a little after 1 a.m. and firefighters were able to save about a quarter of the old school, which had been turned into a complex of 26 apartments.
     One person was transported to Ferry County Memorial Hospital in Republic and another was taken to another hospital, according to a hospital source. Their identities were not released.
     Some 35 firefighters from Curlew and Republic battled the blaze into the daylight hours, Foster said.
     The fire gutted most of the building, but a fire wall allowed firefighters to save a section, Foster said.
     The Red Cross reported assisting some 30 residents at Curlew High School.
     It was not known at press time how the blaze started.