Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A three-story apartment building in Centralia was evacuated after a cooking fire there late yesterday afternoon.

Riverside Fire Authority was called just before 5 p.m. to the building on the 500 block of North Iron Street.

“I think they were cooking french fries and got the oil extremely hot,” Firefighter-paramedic Jennifer Ternan said. “When they tossed the potatoes in, (the splatter) caught the cupboards and stove on fire.”

Nobody was injured, but the pair who live in the unit will have to stay somewhere else for a bit because of the smoke and water damage, Ternan said.

The Chehalis Fire Department was called less than two hours later to a kitchen fire on the 200 block of William Street.

Nobody was hurt there either, but the floor was scorched by a pan of burning grease, according to Capt. Ted McCarty.

And, a small electrical fire in a bathroom fan chased a little girl and her mother out of their home at Reese Lane west of Chehalis around 6:30 p.m.

Lewis County Fire Districts 6 and 5 were called to the duplex and extinguished that. Damage was minimal, District 6 Firefighter Mike Goodwillie said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Winlock fire commissioner who works as a Toledo police officer is in fair condition this morning at Providence Centralia Hospital after a motorcycle accident yesterday.

Randy S. Pennington, 59, of Winlock, laid his motorcycle down when a pickup truck pulled out in front of him at Walnut and Front streets in Winlock yesterday morning, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Pennington suffered cuts and bruised hip, according to the state patrol. It happened about 8 a.m.

He was on his way to the Toledo Police Department on its 2001 Kawasaki KZ1000, according to Sgt. Ted DeHart. It sustained an estimated $1,000 damage, according to the state patrol.

A 23-year-old Winlock woman began to turn onto Walnut when she noticed the motorcycle and stopped in the roadway, forcing Pennington to swerve, the patrol reported.

No citations have been issued yet.

Also yesterday, a motorcycle wreck on state Route 6 near Chehalis sent another man to Providence.

Aid and troopers were called about 6:30 p.m. to the scene near Donahoe Road. The motorcyclist was wearing a helmet, DeHart said.

The motorcyclist was a 55-year-old Olympia resident, Byron K. Roberts. Other details were not readily available.

Brush, vehicles and a mobile home burned today in Grand Mound / Courtesy photo by Lanette Dyer

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A fire at a Grand Mound wrecking yard today spread to five acres and destroyed three vehicles as well as an unoccupied mobile home.

The cause is under investigation, but it ignited soon after a customer smoking a cigarette left the area, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

Firefighters called about 2:15 p.m. to the scene at 183rd Avenue Southwest and Case Road were joined by three neighboring departments as the wind kicked up, Fire Lt. Lanette Dyer said.

Some 20 firefighters were assisted by others from the Department of Natural Resources who brought a 10-person hand crew from Cedar Creek Corrections Center, Dyer said.

The flames were stopped right at a fence line where nine horses were pastured, she said. One southbound lane of Interstate 5 near milepost 90 was shut down for about an hour as some fire apparatus had to access it from the freeway.

They got it under control just after 3:30 p.m.

Dyer repeated what others in the fire service have been saying for the past week:

“The ground is real dry, we have real low humidity, and at this point, it’s the perfect conditions for huge fires,” she said.

Today’s fire at Newton’s Wrecking Yard burned a mobile home used for storage of items including family heirlooms and three of the business’s vehicles before creeping under the fence and consuming about two and a half acres of brush and trees, according to Dyer.

Nobody was injured.

It was just last Wednesday on the opposite side of Interstate 5 where nearly five acres of scotch broom were ignited by a spark from a lawn mower.

West Thurston Regional Fire Authority prepares for Sunday morning remembrance of 9-11 / Courtesy photo

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Three hundred forty-three American flags will provide a back drop for a ceremony tomorrow morning in Littlerock honoring the firefighters and law enforcement officers who lost their lives 10 years ago responding to terrorist attacks.

West Thurston Regional Fire Authority is hosting the event in remembrance of all who died that day.

The time is 8:30 a.m. The place is the Littlerock fire station at 10828 Littlerock Road SW, Olympia.

Also tomorrow a remembrance ceremony on the 10th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, 2001 will be held at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.

Gates open at 11:30 a.m. The 1 p.m. program is being organized by the Lewis County Fallen Heroes Committee and United Way.

The event at the fairgrounds is a benefit for the Fallen Heroes fund, a fund that assists the families of fallen heroes in Lewis County and throughout the state.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Three firefighters from the Rochester-area fire department have joined others from around the state in battling a wildfire that has reportedly destroyed nine homes near Goldendale.

Chief Robert Scott of West Thurston Regional Fire Authority said this morning his department sent a wildland engine and crew.

It’s the third large wild fire they’ve assisted with recently, he said.

While some wild fires in Eastern Washington have prompted large mobilizations over the past two weeks, Scott says conditions right here are ripe as well for any fire to grow fast and far.

Over the next several days folks need to be very, very careful, Scott said.

“All it takes is a little spark, and if you get wind behind it, it can be bad,” Scott said.

Members of his department joined Thurston County Fire District 12 yesterday evening when nearly five acres caught fire north of 183rd Avenue Southwest near Leitner Road.

A field of burning scotch broom threatened three homes, which were protected by the first arriving engines, according to District 12 Battalion Chief Jim Fowler.

Some 40 people from four departments and from the Department of Natural Resources sprayed water and dug a fire trail, Fowler said.

It was caused by a spark from a lawn mower, according to Fowler.

Scott said the flames moved so fast, even the field mice couldn’t outrun them.

Update Friday Sept. 9, 2011 at 8:15 a.m.: Fire Districts from Mossyrock and Napavine each sent a pair of firefighters with a brush truck to Goldendale on Thursday afternoon.