HOME HEATING FIRE
• A mattress ignited when a Centralia resident noticed a paper bag too close to a wall heater, and went to remove it but dropped it on the bed yesterday evening. Firefighters called at 6:20 p.m. to the 1300 block of View Avenue found the occupants had extinguished the fire but both the mattress and box spring burned, according to Riverside Fire Authority. The mattresses were taken out of the house and and residual smoke was removed with a ventilation fan, according to the fire department. Capt. Erik Olson indicated nobody was hurt and there was no damage to the home.
CAMP HEATING FIRE
• Chehalis firefighters called about smoke seen off Interstate 5 late yesterday afternoon found two people had built a campfire, and helped them extinguish it. It was a guy and his mother, who are on a waiting list for a shelter, trying to stay warm, according to the fire department.
AUTO THEFT
• Centralia police yesterday afternoon recovered a stolen vehicle that reportedly had been in the Denny’s parking lot on the 1000 block of Harrison Avenue for several days. It was missing from Thurston County, according to the Centralia Police Department.
CAR PROWL
• Chehalis police were called yesterday afternoon after the discovery of a vehicle prowl in which a GPS device was stolen on Northeast Washington Avenue near Main Street. A passenger door was unlocked and the vehicle had not been driven for a couple of days, according to the Chehalis Police Department
• Among the items stolen in a car prowl discovered yesterday morning at the 600 block of Northeast Franklin Avenue in Chehalis was Halloween candy, the vehicle registration and its title, according to police. An officer responding to the approximately 9:45 a.m. call found someone had entered through the unlocked truck, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• Chehalis police were called to the parking lot at K-Mart just after 9 o’clock yesterday morning following the discovery of a car prowl in which a bank card, $1, a cigarette case and cigarettes were stolen. The vehicle had been there a couple of hours, and left unlocked, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• Centralia police were called just after 6 p.m. yesterday to retrieve a backpack that had been left on someone else’s porch on the 400 block of South Pearl Street. Inside was about $1,000 worth of property that had gone missing the day before in a Chehalis car prowl, according to the Centralia Police Department. The valuables, including binoculars and a GPS device, were turned over to the Chehalis Police Department so they could be returned to their owner, according to police.
OTHER THEFT
• Chehalis police were called about 2:45 p.m. yesterday to take a report of a burglary from a storage unit at the 1900 block of Northeast Kresky Avenue. Further details were not yet available.
• An officer was called to W.F. West High School in Chehalis yesterday afternoon about the theft of a front license plate from a vehicle.
ASSAULT
• Police yesterday arrested a suspect from an incident last Friday in which he allegedly attempted to stab a companion with a sword over an argument about a marijuana transaction, at 1700 block of Harrison Avenue. James C. Tryon was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree assault, according to the Centralia Police Department. However, prosecutors declined to file the criminal charge and he is to be released.
• Officers was called to the 100 block of Main Avenue in Morton just before 2 a.m. on Sunday to a dispute outside with about 20 people. The fight dispersed before the officer arrived, but the officer stayed around until the remaining customers cleared the area, according to the Morton Police Department.
SEXUAL ASSAULT
• Chehalis police were called just after 12:30 p.m. yesterday to take a report of a possible sexual assault. A detective will be investigating, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
VANDALISM
• An officer yesterday morning to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia to take a report of the letters REXS were found spray painted on the side of a business.
HALLOWEEN SCARE
• Officers responded about 8:45 p.m. on Halloween to the 100 block of East State Street in Mossyrock to a report of a child finding a knife in her candy after trick-or-treating. It was determined that the child actually found an opened pocketknife inside the vehicle on the way home and not in the candy according to the Morton Police Department.
ON THE ROAD
• A 57-year-old Vancouver, Washington resident was arrested for driving under the influence following a two-car non-injury collision about 8:30 p.m. yesterday at Northwest West Street and Rhode Island Avenue in Chehalis. John T. Eggen booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, malicious mischief; responses for alarm, harassment, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street, ruckus at Wal-Mart, seemingly intoxicated person sleeping beneath the big black Yard Bird … and more.
Guest column: A bit of prevention advice as autumn settles in
Sunday, November 1st, 2015By Gregg Peterson
Fire Chief, Newaukum Valley Fire and Rescue
My regular fall reminder to everyone, to take a walk around your home and see that all the hoses are disconnected from your faucets and exposed pipes are protected from freezing.
Chief Gregg Peterson
Remember to get the coolant in your car checked for protection against freezing. Check your tires for good tread depth to avoid hydroplaning and check the tire pressures as well.
Lots of repair shops would be more than glad to perform these checks if you cannot.
If you have chains, locate them now and check that they are in good repair. Throw in a cheap flashlight as well as well as a good pair of gloves in the trunk and an old blanket to lay on if you have to change a tire.
A little bit of prevention can save a lot of mess and expenses.
Be sure your furnace is in good working order. Check the filter to see that air moves well through the system. Dirty filters can cause furnaces to overheat and operate less efficiently costing you money.
Last but by no means least, check your smoke detector(s) and carbon monoxide detector(s).
Be prepared.
Gregg Peterson, Chief
Lewis County Fire District #5
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