Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Kirotv.com reports a lawsuit has been filed against the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services on behalf of two Lewis County girls claiming the agency failed to stop years of abuse and neglect by their mother despite repeated warnings.

News reporter Kevin McCarty writes DSHS received two dozen reports over a period of six or seven years but allowed the children to stay with their mother Theresa Hutton at the rural property where she took in dozens of dogs, cats and horses.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2007 after a highly contagious disease prompted authorities to euthanize more than 40 dogs, and the eldest child at age 12 was found so malnourished she weighed only 60 pounds that the girls were removed from the Toledo area home to an aunt and uncle’s care.

The mother was convicted in 2009 of second-degree criminal mistreatment and sentenced to four years in prison.

Read about it here

Firefighters battle a blaze at a single-wide mobile home

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

West Thurston Regional firefighters called about 9 a.m. today to a burning home north of Littlerock found flames rolling out the front door and most of the windows but the three occupants safely outside.

Damage to the single-wide mobile home on the 7700 block of Prine Drive off Littlerock Road was extensive, according to Fire Chief Robert Scott.

Twenty members of four departments responded, including the Tumwater Fire Department as it was just south of their jurisdiction, Scott said.

Crews remain at the scene this morning investigating the cause, he said.

The residents were referred to the Red Cross for assistance, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority. Scott said he was waiting to hear if two cats there turned up.

Updated at 10:33 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A fire broke out this morning at the power plant in the Chehalis Industrial Park, drawing numerous 911 calls from passersby on Interstate 5 and four fire departments.

A transformer exploded, sending flames some 150 feet into the sky, according to according to Lewis County Fire District 6.

Burning at the natural gas-fueled facility on the 1800 block of Bishop Road was one of three 25-foot tall transformers, according to Firefighter-Paramedic Steven Busz.

Nobody was injured.

The sprinkler system contained the blaze even before the one employee on scene shut the power off, Busz said.

It is a very large sprinkler system installed after the last fire there, he said.

The plant was built in 2003 and has been owned and operated since 2008 by the Portland-based PacifiCorp.

A company spokesperson said investigators are looking into it, but it sounds similar to a situation in early 2011 in which a transformer malfunction caused a fire as well.

“The system notifications and alerts worked as they were supposed to,” PacifiCorp spokesperson Tom Gauntt said.

Busz said the metal transformers are filled with a type of mineral oil which conducts the electricity. He wasn’t sure how extensive the damage was to the equipment.

About a dozen firefighters answered the 5:30 a.m. call from Chehalis, Centralia and Napavine, he said.

District 6 was on the scene until about 8 a.m. ensuring the sprinkler system had cooled the transformer to make sure it was out.

The new sprinkler system is so large, crews didn’t put any of their own water on the fire, according to Budsz.

After the January 2011 fire, partial generation was restored at the plant within days and normal operations resumed within less than a month, according to PacifiCorp.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Local paramedics will hold a fill the boot event this weekend in Winlock and Napavine to raise money to help send kids with muscular dystrophy to camp.

Lewis County Medic One Paramedic Delaney Hornby says folks will find them on Saturday at the IGA store in Winlock from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

During the same hours on Sunday, they can be found at the Love’s truck stop off Interstate 5 exit 72.

The fundraiser is being conducted by Lewis County Professional Paramedics IAFF Local 4863. Hornby is president of the group.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Nobody was injured but a family of five is displaced after a house fire in Tenino on Saturday morning that damaged a home built in 1897.

Six fire departments responded to the blaze at about 6 a.m. on the 100 block of Wichman Street South, according to Thurston County Fire District 12.

Smoke alarms woke up the residents who were able to get out, Battalion Chief James Fowler said.

Arriving units found flames at the back of the house and with help were finally able to extinguish it, he said.

It began in the area of a wood stove and destroyed the back entry way, a pantry and a laundry room, he said. A daughter’s bedroom at the rear of the home sustained smoke and water damage as well, according to Fowler.

Fire District 12 is waiting for the insurance investigators to look into the cause.

The two-story structure is one of the original homes in Tenino, Fowler said, known as the McArthur House.

“It’s a beautiful old farmhouse is what it is,” Fowler said. “We had to cut a lot of holes in it.”

The Red Cross was called to assist the two adults and three children, he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia police shot a subject with a bean bag last night ending a prolonged incident that began in Toledo and ended on Interstate 5 in Centralia.

Centralia police responded just before 10 p.m. to assist other agencies with a fleeing suspect near the northbound exit at Mellen Street.

Firefighters were asked to standby because the person apparently had a gas can and a lighter and threatened to light himself on fire, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

The subject was taken into custody.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  The Lewis County Coroner’s Office confirmed today the skeletal remains found down an embankment with a wrecked car last week off U.S. Highway 12 outside Packwood are missing Tacoma resident, Jerry L. Heilman.

Coroner Warren McLeod said Heilman, who vanished last year, died of blunt force trauma.

Responders had to rappel down about 275 feet to recover the body after hikers came across the scene last Wednesday.

HIs manner of death is undetermined, but the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has said it wasn’t suspicious, that they believe his car was traveling fast in the area without a guard rail near milepost 143.

A missing person listing with the city of Tacoma says Heilman was last seen on July 31 of 2012, had not contacted his friends, family or his employer and could be driving a blue 2003 Ford Mustang. His age given was 49 at the time of his disappearance.

The (Tacoma) News Tribune writes Heilman was an avid hunter and fisherman and left his home on Aug. 1, 2012.