Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Firefighters called about 1:20 a.m. today to the 1800 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia found flames in the front of a house on the porch.

Two adults had seen a glow outside their bedroom window and evacuated four children after unsuccessfully attempting to douse the fire, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

A dozen firefighters extinguished the blaze, according to Capt. Scott Weinert.

“The fire was quickly knocked down, it looks like minimal extension into the house,” Weinert said.

The adult male said he’d disposed of debris from the fireplace into a garbage can on the porch; he believed it to be cool, Weinert said.

The damage is estimated at $32,000.

Courtesy photo by Washington State Patrol

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An examination of the Winlock school bus that ran off Interstate 5 into a ravine turned up no mechanical failures or defects with its braking system, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Driver Ronnie H. Withrow told troopers the brakes failed when the bus carrying a soccer team went through a stop sign at the top of the northbound off ramp at state Route 505 and traveled 50 to 75 feet down an embankment into a swamp. Nobody was injured seriously enough to be taken to the hospital.

State patrol spokesperson Trooper Will Finn said he spoke this morning with the state patrol officer who inspected the bus.

The officer conducted an extensive inspection, focusing greatly on the brake system, according to Finn.

The 2009 bus was carrying 32 players, mostly teenage boys, along with two coaches and two managers. It happened about 10 p.m. on Tuesday, as the Toledo-Winlock High School soccer team was returning from a game in Vancouver.

Withrow, 53, began driving a school bus for Winlock in September, but drove for other districts before that, according to District Superintendent Shannon Criss. He is currently on administrative leave, according to Criss.

Finn noted the cause of the collision is still under investigation.

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For background, read “School bus wrecks off I-5 into swamp near Toledo” from Wednesday April 10, 2013 at 7:28 a.m., here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Onalaska man hit on the back of the head by a tree being cut down on his property has died from his injuries.

John C. Hazen, 43, was flown to a Vancouver, Wa. hospital after the incident Monday morning off Allen Road.

Lewis County Fire District 1 Chief Mark Conner said he got word doctors took Hazen off life support on Monday night.

Hazen, who worked as a maintenance person for a local logging outfit, had his employer helping him his clear land, according to Conner. Conner said on Monday that Hazen, for whatever reason ran in front of an evergreen tree as it was being dropped.

The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death accidental, caused by blunt trauma to the head.

He worked for the company but didn’t have a hard hat on because he wasn’t part of the tree cutting crew, Conner said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 44-year-old Onalaska-area man was airlifted to a Vancouver hospital after he was struck in the back of the head by a falling tree on his property this morning.

For an unknown reason, he had run in front of an evergreen tree being dropped by a local logging outfit, according to Lewis County Fire District 1 Chief Mark Conner.

Firefighters called about 9:35 a.m. to Allen Road, off Middle Fork Road, found the victim unconscious but still breathing, Conner said.

The fire chief described the tree as about eight inches in diameter.

“It looked like he was hit and thrown clear,” he said.

The tree faller attempted to swing the tree away from the man, but unfortunately it had already begun to drop, Conner said.

The man was flown from a private airstrip off Forest-Napavine Road to Southwest Washington Medical Center, according to Conner.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Tenino Municipal Court Judge John Lyman was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol on Saturday night, the second time since 2010.

Lyman, 68, of Olympia, appeared intoxicated after he wrecked his vehicle about 10 p.m. on the 3300 block of Yelm Highway, east of Olympia, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

“He spun out across a sidewalk into a ditch,” detective Sgt. Greg Elwin said. He was not injured, Elwin said.

Tenino City Hall and court are closed on Mondays, but Police Chief John Hutchings said this morning he believes Lyman may have retired during the past month.

Lyman has been handling all manner of cases, including DUIs, there, Hutchings said. Elwin said Lyman retired from Tumwater Municipal Court last month.

The Olympian reported in January 2011 the judge received a deferred prosecution for five years following a September 2010 DUI incident in which he was accused of striking a parked car at the Tumwater Valley Golf Club, leaving the scene and then crashing into a vehicle at a stoplight on Yelm Highway.

Elwin said a sheriff’s deputy took Lyman to the jail on Saturday night where he was processed and gave breath samples that registered .136 and .141. He was released without being booked, Elwin said.