Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An off-duty police officer and another passerby intervened when a state trooper and a pedestrian scuffled on the side of Interstate 5 at Chehalis this evening.

Aid, and perhaps as many as a half dozen police officers, responded about 6:25 p.m. to the southbound off ramp at Main Street.

Neither were seriously injured, according to responders.

Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Ryan Tanner said he didn’t yet know many details.

“Don’t know why the contact, or why the scuffle,” Tanner said.

The trooper’s glasses were broken when he was hit just below his eye with some kind of metallic object, like a lug nut, Tanner said.

The trooper, whose identity was not released, declined to go to the hospital, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. It wasn’t the kind of injury that required stitches, Fire Capt. Rob Gebhart said.

The other individual had only scrapes, he said.

The passersby took the individual into custody, Tanner said.

Some of the old, and volatile, items found behind Winlock home. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff's Office

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The sheriff’s office said a bomb squad was at a Winlock area residence this morning to detonate two bucketfuls of explosive items found by a child playing in the woods behind his house.

A deputy was called last night to the 1000 block of North Military Road after the boy picked up the items, took them to his house and told his parents, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The buckets contained commercial blasting caps and approximately 100 feet of detonation cord, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

“They were very old and in poor condition making them extremely unsafe and volatile,” Brown wrote a news release.

Apparently the previous owner of the property died without telling anyone about the explosives stored on his property, Brown said.

Brown stated the sheriff’s office secured the items and requested the Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad.

Brown said the bomb squad responded to the property about 9 a.m. today to detonate the items on the property.

Dr. W. William Benton, left and Ron Grant, staff the fireworks stand on South Market Boulevard in the parking lot of Ace Hardware. The Kiwanas Club of Chehalis stand will be open until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, or until their stock runs out.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

While the big day isn’t until Wednesday, fireworks are already on sale and being put to good use.

Riverside Fire Authority’s Assistant Chief Richard Mack wants the public to celebrate safely.

Just last week, a 34-year-old former Toledo man lost part of his hand when a mortar-type firework exploded as he was setting it off in Centralia.

Mack offers the following advice to prevent injuries and fires:

• First, set family boundaries – only adults should light fireworks. Supervision is paramount in keeping children safe.

• Second, fireworks should not be readily available to tempt the curiosity of young children and should be stored in a secured location to prohibit their access.

• Most importantly, talk about safety. Summer weather conditions make grasses and other vegetation dry and vulnerable to fire. The snow and ice storms that occurred in January left a tremendous amount of tree debris on forest floors, which is tinder dry today. Use care in selecting the area where you will be discharging fireworks.
•••

Read “Mortar-type firework explodes in man’s hand” from Friday June 22, 2012, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A recovery effort is underway to retrieve the body of a Mount Rainier National Park climbing ranger who yesterday fell more than 3,000 feet to his death.

Nick Hall / Courtesy photo by Mount Rainier National Park

Nick Hall, 34, died during a rescue attempt on the mountain’s northeast side of a party of four climbers from Waco, Texas, according to park spokesperson Kevin Bacher.

Hall, a native of Patten, Maine, is unmarried and has no children, according to Bacher. He is a four-year veteran of the park’s climbing program.

A ground team is enroute to Hall’s location, but currently at Camp Schurman at 9,500 feet encountering heavy precipitation and thickening clouds, park spokesperson Patti Wold said today just before 2 p.m.

Air operations are grounded and it’s not known if they can complete their mission today, according to Wold.

Yesterday the group from Texas were on Emmons Glacier at the 13,700 foot level when two climbers fell into a crevasse. They called for help by cell phone and during the rescue just before 5 p.m. as Hall was assisting the other climbers for extrication by helicopter, he fell to about the 10,000 foot level, according to the park service.

Three were flown out, but one of them overnighted on the mountain with climbing rangers.

Stacy Wren is walking down today with a team of climbing rangers. The others, Stuart Smith, Ross Vandyke and Noelle Smith are hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to Wold.

Mount Rainier has had 117 climbing-related fatalities since 1897, according to Wold. In 1995, two climbing rangers fell 1,200 feet during a rescue on the same Emmons Glacier.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A former Toledo man lost part of his hand last night when a mortar-type firework exploded as he was setting it off.

Aid called about 7:30 p.m. to the 1000 block of Grand Avenue in Centralia arranged for the 34-year-old to be airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Thomas Eric Strom underwent emergency surgery overnight, according to his older sister.

“The surgery, thank God, was successful,” Tanya Strom Gadsden said this morning. “He’s alive and we’re really lucky.”

Gadsden said her brother was in good spirits when she arrived at the hospital last night, but is expected to have a slow recovery.

“As soon as it was lit, it blew up,” she said. “We’re thankful it was his left hand, he’s right handed.”

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dusty Breen said Strom had purchased the firework earlier in the day at the Chehalis Reservation.

He was holding the tube so it wouldn’t tip over, Breen said.

“The projectile that fires up (into the air) for whatever reason didn’t leave the tube,” Breen said.

The trauma to his hand was substantial, according to responders.

Strom is from Toledo but lives in Idaho, where he works as a salesman, according to his sister. He was getting ready to leave on a business trip and was visiting friends, she said.

Fireworks are not legal to light off until this coming Thursday.

Under state law, fireworks are allowed to be set off between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. during the week around the Fourth of July, except they can go one hour later on July 4 and can’t start until noon on June 28, according to Breen. After July 5, they are prohibited until New Years.

Certain cities may have more restrictions on the hours.