The flames begin to consume the street side storefront of Just Wood Furniture. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Just added several photos to the Saturday news story about the fire at Just Wood furniture business on Harrison Avenue.
Check them out here.
Part of a group holding a family gathering at the Toledo Airport prepare to take their turn at skydiving minutes after another parachutist is taken away by ambulance following a hard landing.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A 25-year-old skydiver was hospitalized this afternoon after he had what was described as a hard landing in Toledo.
Lewis County Fire District 2 and paramedics were called about 4:30 p.m. to the Toledo Airport off Jackson Highway north of town.
Heather Whittaker of Skydive Toledo was among a number of professionals there – serving a group holding a family reunion – and taking some of them up in the air to parachute.
Five of them hopped in a truck and headed to the spot where the man came down, several hundred yards away between the runway and the taxi way.
“He had a hard landing,” Whittaker said.
The five are part of a group that train for just such emergencies, according to Whittaker.
The injured man, whose name was not released, was taken by ambulance to Providence Centralia. The nature of his injuries wasn’t available.
Whittaker said he wasn’t one of the clients Skydive Toledo was entertaining today. They didn’t see what happened, and she preferred they didn’t find out, she said, as a foursome arrived to the runway to go up in a small plane.
A firefighter in front of Just Wood Furniture in Centralia is one of several putting water on the blaze that broke out around 3 o'clock Saturday morning. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A three-alarm fire ravaged a furniture store in Centralia overnight and spread to a neighboring former gas station before it was knocked down.
The Just Wood furniture business on Harrison Avenue near Yew Street sounds like it’s a complete loss, an assistant fire chief said this morning as he was coming on duty.
“The (convenience) store next door had already started burning when units were arriving, therefore, it was pretty advanced,” Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Mike Kytta said.
One firefighter sustained an ankle injury and was hospitalized, but he has since been treated and released, Kytta said.
Firefighters were called around 3 a.m. and found the business with an adjoining two-story shop ablaze, according to Kytta.
They kept the damage to the Centralia Food Mart to a minimum – its one wall was charred – and protected another nearby office building, he said. The Food Mart used to be a service station, but its gas pumps and tanks have been removed, according to Kytta.
The assistant chief said he expected the some of the department and investigators to be on site much of today.
Centralia police said Harrison Avenue between West First and Yew streets would be closed until 3 p.m.
The last three-alarm fire Kytta could recall was four years ago when half of Oakview Elementary School in north Centralia was destroyed by runaway fireworks.
The flames begin to consume the street side storefront of Just Wood Furniture. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
Fire trucks from Centralia and Chehalis sit on Harrison Avenue early Saturday morning. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
Firefighters continue to put water on Just Wood Furniture as well as two adjacent buildings which were spared. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
Firefighters battle the three-alarm fire well into Saturday morning. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
An 89-year-old woman is in critical condition after a single-vehicle wreck on U.S. Highway 12 between Mayfield Lake and Mossyrock yesterday afternoon.
The Washington State Patrol reported a westbound 1986 Nissan pickup truck drove into a ditch on the right side of the road and rolled, coming to rest on its top.
May E. Buchanan, 89, and her daughter, Joyce M. Zelepuza, 69, both of Orting, were taken to the hospital with cuts and bruises, according to the state patrol. However, Buchanan this morning was in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Troopers and aid were called at 3 p.m. The truck was totaled, the rooftop was flattened but both woman were able to crawl out the windows, responders said.
The cause is under investigation, according to the state patrol.
About a half hour later, troopers were called to a different car that ran off the highway about six miles west of Packwood.
The investigating trooper blamed driver inattention when the eastbound Oldsmobile Cutlass drove off Highway 12 on the right and down an embankment before continuing parallel to the highway in the grass and driving back up to the gravel shoulder.
The car sustained an estimated $2,000 damage to its engine and undercarriage and had to be towed, according to the state patrol
Betty L. Kinnaman, 67, of College Place, escaped with just back pain, the patrol reported.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Two people were injured when a mobile home in Rochester caught fire overnight.
Four adults escaped, but the home was a total loss, according to the West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.
“I’m not certain of the details, but the fire did wake them up and they were standing outside when we arrived,” Firefighter-EMT Rob Smith said this morning.
West Thurston was joined by the Tenino-area fire department in answering the approximately 2:30 a.m. call to 183rd Avenue Southwest and Sargent Road. It was a single-wide mobile home.
A female was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and a male for a minor burn, Smith said.
Flames were already shooting through the roof and out the windows when responders got there, he said. They fought the fire mostly defensively, but were able to save a three-car garage just 10 feet away, according to Smith.
About 20 firefighters were on the scene for roughly three hours, he said.
The Rochester-area fire department called the Red Cross to assist the residents.
The cause has not yet been determined, he said. Smith estimated the loss of the structure and contents at $60,000.
“It’s really too bad,” Smith said. “I’m just glad they were able to get out safely and relatively uninjured.”
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
An autopsy was scheduled for this morning on the body found off a logging road outside of Morton on Tuesday.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and Lewis County Coroner’s Office have still not said if they’ve concluded the body is that of missing Morton 16-year-old Austin King.
After the autopsy, the remains will be taken to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, where additional test will be conducted by a forensic anthropologist, according to sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust.
Austin was last seen by his mother early on the morning of June 23.
•••
Previous news stories on the Morton teenager can be found below:
• “Vigil for Morton teen still on; body found yesterday not identified” – click here – Wednesday July 21, 2010 at 12:06 p.m.
• News brief: “Body of a male found near logging road outside of Morton” – click here – Tuesday July 20, 2010 at 11:55 p.m.
• News brief: “Sheriff’s office seeks tips to find missing teen” – click here – Thursday July 1, 2010 at 5 p.m.
• “Morton teenager remains missing” – click here – Thursday July 1, 2010 at 7:52 a.m.
Five fire departments responded just after 2 p.m. today to the blaze on Northwest Folsom Street in Chehalis. Chehalis Fire Chief Kelvin Johnson said he could see smoke from the fire station and when he arrived, flames were shooting out the back of the vacant house.
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