Archive for March, 2016

News brief: Family member is ear-witness to fatal collision in Ony

Monday, March 14th, 2016

Updated at 3:08 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 56-year-old driver who died when he wrecked his Jeep along the 2500 block of Centralia-Alpha Road yesterday morning had been talking on his cell phone with his sister, and was on his way to her house, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

“She heard the crash and then silence and sent her husband to go look for her brother,” Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said this morning.

It happened about 12:15 a.m. yesterday in Onalaska.

Deputies arriving to the scene believe the 2005 Jeep Wrangler had been eastbound when it left the roadway, traveled through a ditch and hit a tree, according to the sheriff’s office.

The driver was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle, Brown said. Fire Chief Andrew Martin said the patient was deceased when responders arrived.

He is identified as Marvin Elliott, from Centralia.

The Jeep was totaled, Brown said. The sheriff’s office is investigating the crash.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Sunday, March 13th, 2016
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ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD FATALITY

• Firefighters called about 12:35 a.m. today to a single-vehicle wreck in Onalaska found a Jeep that appeared to have left the road, struck a tree and rolled, according to Lewis County Fire District 1. The driver, the only occupant, died at the scene, Fire Chief Andrew Martin said. It was along Centralia-Alpha Road near Beck Road, although toward Oppelt, Martin said. “All we did was respond and turn the scene over to the sheriff’s office,” he said. It’s an area where the fire department sees fatality crashes about once a year, he said.

ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD AIRLIFT

• At about 10:40 p.m. yesterday, firefighters were called to another single-vehicle wreck near the 200 block of Brim Road south of Ethel. Lewis County Fire District 8 Chief Duran McDaniel said the car with just one occupant hit a pole and a tree. The tree fell onto to the vehicle and the challenge was, it took responders about a half an hour to get him cut out of the car, McDaniel said. The patient had back pain and was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to McDaniel.

Serious wind, snow on the horizon for Lewis County

Saturday, March 12th, 2016
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Courtesy image National Weather Service

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A windstorm so strong is expected tomorrow that forecasters say widespread power outages and downed trees are likely.

Some damage to buildings is even possible as the strongest winds sweep through much of Western Washington late tomorrow afternoon into the early evening, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service reminds the public that falling trees and limbs can cause serious injury or death.

Southeast winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph are possible, with even stronger winds to follow, forecasters indicated today.

A winter storm warning for snow in the Cascade Mountains of Lewis and Pierce counties has been issued for the 24-hour period starting at noon tomorrow, with amounts that will make travel dangerous, according to the NWS.

Eight to 18 inches of snow will fall through tomorrow morning, with another 1 to 2-feet dropping through noon Monday.

The snow level will be around 4,000 feet today, then remain between 2,000 and 3,000 feet  through Monday.

The NWS advises that motorists only travel through the mountains if it is an emergency, and be sure to carry a flashlight, food and water just in case.

The wind warning issued today focuses on the areas surrounding Everett, Seattle, Bellevue, Bremerton, Tacoma, Hood Canal, the Southwest Interior and the Lower Chehalis Valley.

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Monitor “Weather Alerts, Forecasts” from the National Weather Service anytime with the link on the right hand column of this page beneath the heading “Other useful web links”

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Saturday, March 12th, 2016
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Driver and dog were both uninjured. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 6.

ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD

• Firefighters called to a two-vehicle collision just before 6 p.m. yesterday at state Route 6 near Chilvers Road found only a Jeep on its side occupied by the driver and a dog. The patient was uninjured but needed help getting out, according to Lewis County Fire District 6. Firefighter Mike Goodwillie said they cut out the windshield to extricate her.

• Officers responded yesterday to an approximately 2:50 p.m. report of a vehicle verses pedestrian traffic collision at the 400 block of South Silver Street in Centralia. The victim was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital for minor injuries, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Officers arrested David Serano Moss, 21, when he drove to the Centralia Police Department about 7 o’clock this morning and officers knew he was required to have an interlock device and that his driver’s license was suspended. He was cited and then released, according to police.

CAR PROWL

• Centralia police were called about 7:40 a.m. yesterday to the 900 block of G Street where they learned that sometime since the evening before,  someone broke out the driver’s side window of a truck while it was parked and unoccupied.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license, providing false information to police officer, driving under the under the influence; responses for alarm, dispute, malicious mischief, collision on city street … and more, among 136 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 7 a.m. today.

Onalaska resident found unresponsive on remote Utah road

Friday, March 11th, 2016

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 72-year-old Onalaska man overdue on a trip home from Arizona was found nearly unconscious laying on a remote road in southwestern Utah and is recovering from hypothermia.

Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower said he now knows the man had recently been diagnosed with Ahlzheimers and had been traveling from Congress, Arizona back to Washington.

It was about 8 a.m. on Wednesday when employees with the water conservation district came across a Jeep abandoned in the middle of the road, west of Cedar City, Utah, Gower said.

About a mile farther, they found him, unresponsive and cold, shirtless and shoeless, he said. Temperatures had dipped into the mid-20s that night, he said.

Deputies and then an ambulance responded and took him to an area hospital, he said.

“When they got him there, his core temperature was 82 degrees, which is very cold,” he said.

The sheriff didn’t release the man’s name, but said family has traveled to Utah to be with him.

“He is going to make it,” Gower said this afternoon.

The sheriff’s office tracked down his family from papers either on the patient or in his vehicle, he said. The family had been trying to track him by his bank card use, he said.

Gower said he wasn’t sure what if any agency took a missing person report.

“I guess he had a cell phone, but he was not answering,” he said.

Sheriff Gower said the thanks belong to the employees of the water district.

Gower said he’s been with the sheriff’s office over 25 years, and worked several similar cases.

“Most of the time they end more tragic than this,” he said. “We usually find them after it’s too late.”

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Friday, March 11th, 2016
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AUTO THEFT

• A car that was stolen on Wednesday in Centralia was found yesterday afternoon abandoned in a parking lot in the case associated with the 1800 block of North Pearl Street, according to the Centralia Police Department.

STOLEN FIREARM

• Centralia police were called about 4:40 p.m. yesterday to the 1100 block of Woodland Avenue to take a report of the theft of a Hi-Point 9mm carbine rifle from the residence.

BURGLARY CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called to the 1500 block of North National Avenue about 5:15 p.m. yesterday to take a report of a suspected burglary. There were no signs of forced entry, but the victim noted two DVDs missing as well as clothing moved around, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

SCHOOL ISSUE

• Chehalis police were called just before 1 p.m. yesterday to the 300 block of Southwest 16th Street about a 15-year-old girl who may have been under the influence of marijuana. The school is following its suspension protocol and information was forwarded to juvenile prosecutors, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, driving under the influence; responses for alarm, dispute, suicidal person, runaway juvenile, parking issues … and more, among 164 calls for local law enforcement and / or fire-emergency medical services in the 24-hour period ending about 6:30 a.m. today.

Centralia fire investigation continues, victims positively ID’d

Thursday, March 10th, 2016

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County coroner today said he has positively identified the three children from Friday’s house fire on Ham Hill Road in Centralia.

He released their names: Benjamin D. Tower, 12; Madeline R. Tower, 10; and Samuel J. Tower, 7.

They were students at Washington Elementary School and Edison Elementary School in Centralia.

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While he doesn’t have any reason to think they died from anything other then the house fire, Coroner Warren McLeod said, it will be awhile before he can make the official determination on the cause of their deaths.

Autopsies have been performed but his conclusions can’t be made until after further studies as well as seeing the results of toxicology tests, according to McLeod.

It can take between eight and 14 weeks to get lab results back, according to the coroner’s office.

Authorities have said the youngsters were sleeping upstairs in the split-level home while their mother was sleeping on the main floor. She was among those who phoned 911 at about 12:45 a.m.

Efforts by the mother, by a police officer and by two firefighters to rescue them were unsuccessful because of the smoke, flames and intense heat.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Centralia Police Department detective Sgt. Carl Buster said the process can sometimes take months.

Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Rick Mack, who is also the lead investigator, has said they narrowed the origin down to the area of the living room, a few feet from the front door.

The tragedy follows by just over a year a nighttime residential fire in Winlock that claimed three lives.

The family had been sleeping in the two-story house on  Northeast First Street and when the father and two boys headed out the door, the mother and girls were right behind him, but didn’t make it outside.

Samantha Koehler, 31, and her two daughters Bethany Cuvreau, 4, and Tabitha Cuvreau, 2, died of smoke inhalation on February 26, 2015.

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For background, read “Heavy hearts as family loses three in Centralia house fire” from Friday March 4, 2016, here