Riverside Fire Authority responds to a house fire north of Centralia Saturday afternoon in a neighborhood without fire hydrants.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – Firefighters rolled out more than 330 yards of five-inch hose across Harrison Avenue and down Prairie Avenue north of Centralia to douse a blaze inside a house this afternoon.
Nobody was in the rambler at the time but unfortunately one pet cat perished and another was unaccounted for, Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Mike Kytta said as crews came out of the home.
There are no fire hydrants in that area, according to Kytta.
Neighbors reported seeing black smoke, he said. Crews found what Kytta thought was a back bedroom burning and caught flames rising about five feet above the roof, the assistant chief said.
Firefighters from Rochester joined them and the blaze was under control within about 30 minutes of the approximately 3:55 p.m. call.
“It’s nice to be able to go out a rural area and find a fire as advanced as this was; and, they’re going to be able to repair this house,” Kytta said.
It followed a kitchen fire in a house south of Chehalis this morning.
Lewis County Fire District 5 was called at 10:30 a.m. to a home on the 800 block of Koontz Road.
A woman there had thrown bacon on the stove before going out to feed her horses and returned to find her house full of smoke, District 5 Firefighter Raymond Smerek said this afternoon.
Nine firefighters were on the scene. The fire was limited to an area in the kitchen, he said.
Volunteer Firefighter Corey Youngren gets ready to remove his outer gear after coming out of a house on Prairie Avenue north of Centralia on Saturday afternoon.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter