By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Firefighters are conducting live fire training today at a house in the area of 2325 Jackson Highway.
The practice burn is expected to go until 7 p.m., according to Lewis County Fire District 6.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 58-year-old man was arrested last night for the incident at a Winlock home last week in which responders found two people with knife wounds.
Gregory L. Trujillo was one of the pair hurt at the 300 block of Cedar Court last Friday.
He was picked up at a motel in Chehalis yesterday by Chehalis police, Toledo Police Department Chief John Brockmueller said this morning.
“The evidence showed he was the one that needed to go to jail,” Brockmueller said.
Trujillo sustained wounds to his abdomen and taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The female involved was described as suffering minor lacerations to her upper extremities.
Police said at the time they believed the weapon was a small-bladed knife.
Trujillo was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree assault. He is scheduled to go before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.
•••
For background, read “News brief: Two in Winlock treated for knife injuries, investigation ongoing” from Monday April 4, 2016, here
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The coroner has a warning as outdoor temperatures are forecast to rise above 80 degrees today.
Basically, he says please don’t drown.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod issued a statement this morning to remind the public that that although our local rivers may look inviting, they are dangerous.
“Cold temperatures and fast moving water combine quickly to overpower anyone in the water,” McLeod stated.
The best way to stay safe is to wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets when people are going to be in, on or around the water, McLeod says.
Updated at 2:33 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The wile 25-year-old man who was said to have hitched a ride beneath a semi to slip away from deputies last month at Gee Cees truck stop was captured in Centralia yesterday.
Ruben A. Inman
Ruben A. Inman was contacted around 11 a.m. yesterday in the 1400 block of Crescent Avenue at the north end of town by the sheriff’s special enforcement team and Centralia officers, according to authorities.
“The suspect fled on foot from police during the initial contact and then once in handcuffs near the patrol car he tried to run away from police again,” Centralia police wrote in a brief summary of the incident.
Inman was booked into the Lewis County Jail for his warrant and also for second-degree escape, according to police.
Centralia police say he is from Chehalis. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office previously identified him as living in Centralia.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office on their Facebook page posted their thanks to Lewis County Crime Stoppers, and everyone, for the assistance.
Prosecutors today declined to file an escape charge.
Back on March 11, Inman and his companion were being questioned at the truck stop off Interstate 5 south of Vader when Inman bolted and vanished.
After viewing surveillance images, deputies realized he had crawled under a big rig which subsequently got stopped in Arlington. Only Inman’s cap was still aboard.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Police are still investigating what took place at a Winlock home in which a man and a woman both were wounded from what was believed to be a small-bladed knife on Friday night.
“We believe it’s a (domestic violence) situation, both got injured, knife injuries,” Toledo Police Department Chief John Brockmueller said this morning. “We’re still trying to figure out who did what.”
Police and firefighters were dispatched about 9:30 p.m. on Friday to the 300 block of Cedar Court for a possible stabbing.
When they arrived, the woman was at a neighbor’s with minor lacerations to her upper extremities, according to Lewis County Fire District 15.
Brockmueller said the two are in their late 30s.
The man had some wounds to his abdomen and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Brockmueller said.
He has had surgery, but his injuries aren’t believed to be life-threatening, the chief said.
Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Anderson indicated the woman was treated at the scene and declined to be transported by ambulance, but was going to go to the emergency room with a friend.
Police Chief Brockmueller said they got a search warrant and have not yet located the suspected weapon, but were told it was a small bladed knife.
He said he was not certain yet of their relationship or even if both reside at the home.
“We should have more in a couple of days,” he said.
Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 6
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Rural Chehalis firefighters were joined by three other fire departments yesterday in putting out a brush fire in the area of Ceres Hill and Meskill Road.
Lewis County Fire District 6 tweeted just before 6 p.m. the site was turned over to personnel from the state Department of Natural Resources.
Photos from the scene west of Chehalis show smoke rising from an area that appears to have been previously logged, with piles of wood debris.
District 6 was assisted by members of Fire Districts 11, 13 and 5, according to the tweets. Further information was not readily available this morning.
Smoke billows from two-story residence along Pennsylvania Avenue early this morning / Courtesy photo by Cara Ebeling
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Crews spent all night battling a house fire in Chehalis.
Nobody was hurt, but the estimated $70,000 in damage means probably the two-story home will have to be rebuilt, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.
Fire Capt. Kevin Curfman said they were dispatched just after midnight to the 700 block of Northwest Pennsylvania Avenue at Vine Street.
“The renters were just getting home, heard a detector, opened the door and saw smoke,” Curfman said. “They believed it was in the bathroom area.”
The arriving crew observed a heavy smoke column and just a little bit of flames showing from the eves, he said.
They found no flames inside and began to put people on the roof, but it began sagging and they had to be pulled off, Curfman said.
It turned out the fire was in a dead space behind a “knee wall,” Curfman said. It was attacked by cutting access holes on the gable ends of the building, he said.
Firefighters were joined by members of Lewis County Fire Districts 6 and 5, Riverside Fire Authority out of Centralia and West Thurston Regional Fire Authority from Rochester, he said.
“It was very stubborn, but eventually we got it extinguished,” he said.
Curfman estimates about half the residents’ contents could be salvageable.
Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said the cause is under investigation.
Join us