Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 64-year-old Mineral man was rescued after he was injured when he was thrown from his mule and his 14-year-old grandson hiked out to get help on Saturday outside of Packwood.

The sheriff’s office said the man was hurt on Friday at the northwest corner of Jug Lake and was unable to stand stand or get back on his mule. He was with his grandsons ages 9 and 14, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

The teenager hiked out about five miles the following morning to call for help, Brown said.

The man was airlifted to Tacoma General Hospital with potential injuries to his ribs and pelvis, according to Brown.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Bothell man drowned in East Lewis County after getting pinned down in a river between large logs and rocks.

Michael Lloyd Barrett, 41, was rescued by a group of kayakers who assisted Barrett’s fellow campers, but was pronounced dead at Morton General Hospital.

It happened Saturday afternoon on the Ohanapecosh River just outside the southern border of Mount Rainier National Park.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said Barrett was sitting in a shallow area of the river cooling off and when he moved to a deeper area lost his balance.

It is believed he may have intended to ride over a waterfall into a lower pool, something he’d done during previous visits there, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

His fellow campers tried but couldn’t get him out of the water, according to Brown. A well-trained group of kayakers happened upon the scene and pulled him out, she said.

Barrett was transported to the hospital, but didn’t make it, according to Brown.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Centralia man was hospitalized yesterday for smoke inhalation after a fire at his apartment on the 100 block of West First Street.

Firefighters called about 9:30 p.m. learned that neighbors alerted the resident, knocking on his door and waking him up, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

The fire affected an exterior wall; there was no damage to the interior of the ground floor unit but smoke got inside, according to Fire Capt. Scott Weinert.

The cause is still under investigation but it began in an area where the resident kept an ashtray and said he smoked, Weinert said.

Earlier in the day, firefighters were joined by crews from Chehalis and Rochester at Century Market on the 500 block of North Tower Avenue when a fire broke out.

Firefighters called about 1:30 p.m. quickly extinguished it, according to Weinert.

That blaze started outside the building and began to extend into a storeroom, Weinert said. Tower Avenue was closed for about an hour, according to police.

The cause is under investigation but one possibility may be discarded smoking materials, Weinert said.

Centralia firefighters were extremely busy yesterday, with 21 calls in the first 20 hours of their shift, the captain said.

Jackson Highway fifth-wheel fire. / Courtesy photo Lewis County Fire District 2

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A fiery explosion early this morning in a recreational vehicle near Toledo severely injured a man who was sleeping inside.

Firefighters and aid called just before 5:15 a.m. to the 5400 block of Jackson Highway found the fifth-wheel trailer fully involved in flames, according to Lewis County Fire District 2.

The man was able to get himself out, Fire Chief Grant Wiltbank said.

“I was told he had to kick the door open,” Wiltbank said.

The victim, who Wiltbank believed is in his 60s, was flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle which has a  specialized unit for treatment of burns.

Toledo was fogged in, so they transported him north to Richie Brothers property near Winlock, where Airlift Northwest picked him up, according to the chief.

The cause is under investigation. The fifth-wheel was destroyed.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Four firefighters from a south Thurston County fire district are among those still battling a wildfire north of Chelan that is now estimated to have scorched almost 6,500 acres.

The so-called Antoine Creek Fire is about 50 percent contained, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

The increase in acreage is due more to accurate mapping than the fire spreading, the agency reported this morning.

West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Lt. Lanette Dyer said a crew of three with a brush truck and another individual in a pickup truck were called over there on Sunday night. They checked in yesterday, but don’t know when they might be released, she said.

Three firefighters from Lewis County Fire District 5 departed Sunday as well to assist.

They are among more than 300 firefighters working to put out the wildfire that is burning grass and light timber on private, state and federal lands.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Firefighters will be conducting training around Centralia on Tuesday and Wednesday using pretend smoke that will be visible to the general public.

It’s not real, it’s not toxic, it’s called training smoke, according to Riverside Fire Authority Chief Jim Walkowski.

On Wednesday while they are practicing at the Wilson Hotel building at 328 N. Tower Ave., motorists can expect traffic impacts on Maple Avenue between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., according to Walkowski. Drivers can use Magnolia and Center streets to go around via Railroad Avenue, he noted.

Tomorrow, personnel will be conducting exercises at the former King Solomon restaurant on the 1200 block of Mellen Street and at a vacant supermarket building at 528 N. Tower Ave.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Three firefighters from Lewis County Fire District 5 left last night to assist with a 4,000 acre wild fire burning in Chelan County.

They took a water tender and a brush truck to work as part of a strike team at the Antoine Creek Fire which is threatening homes, according to a District 5 spokesperson Megan Van Egdom.

The Washington State Patrol, which authorized the mobilization of state firefighting resources yesterday afternoon, reports that evacuation notices are in place for about 30 residences.

The fire began about noon yesterday northeast of Chehalis, according to a state patrol news release. Six so-called strike teams had been mobilized as of this morning.

Van Egdom suggests that with the dry weather and high fire danger, it’s is a good time – if one hasn’t done so already – to remove dry yard debris from around homes, clear roofs and porches of pine needles and cones and consider removing large trees and shrubs adjacent to structures.