A crew cuts up a Douglas Fir that dropped across the roof of a home on Middle Fork Road between Chehalis and Onalaska.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
This news story was updated at 11:30 a.m.
Last night’s windstorm and falling trees caused power outages in places from Cinebar to Rochester, and at least one fir tree fell onto a house in rural Chehalis causing significant damage.
“It kind of hit dead center and broke through the roof,” Lewis County Fire District 5 Firefighter Brad Bozarth said this morning.
Firefighters called about 9:30 p.m. to Middle Fork Road had to use chainsaws to get in the driveway and again to make another path so the resident could get her car out, Bozarth said.
They stayed only long enough to shut off the power to the single-story dwelling and have paramedics check out the woman, who was pretty shook up, he said.
“While we up there, more trees were coming down around us,” he said. “We evacuated the resident and got out.”
District 5 which protects the Napavine area was busy all night with power lines and trees across roads, he said.
The Winlock area fire department had no calls of wind-related incidents overnight, nor did the Chehalis Fire Department or responders in the Boistfort area but firefighters in Centralia and Rochester kept busy.
Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Greg Schwartz said they were called about 10:30 p.m. after wires fell across Seminary Hill Road near the Armory and police had already put up barricades.
“It was gusting pretty strong there for awhile,” Schwartz said.
In Rochester, the fire department began getting calls about 8 p.m. that varied from trees across the road – even Interstate 5 – to power lines in driveways, according to to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Chief Robert Scott.
They had to use chainsaws to cut up trees that fell down in front of and behind a motorist on Tilley Road near Millersylvania State Park at about 9 p.m., Scott said.
No injuries were reported among their some 15 or 16 calls, Scott said.
Their own power was out, however, and they were using generators this morning at their stations on Sargent Road and in Little Rock, he said.
The chief said at last check, about 2,000 people in the Rochester area were still without electricity.
State Route 507 remains blocked from downed power lines at Bucoda and the Washington State Department of Transportation estimates the road will be closed until at least 1:15 p.m. today.
Crews have been there since before 11 p.m. last night. Puget Sound Energy workers are on the scene now.
Motorists are advised to use alternate routes.
Trees on state Route 507 also blocked both directions near Reservation Road in Tenino last night but were cleared by 2 a.m.
Near Millersylvania State Park, fallen trees tangled in power lines shut down both directions of state Route 121 at 113th Avenue Southwest at about 11 p.m. which could remain blocked until at 5 p.m. because of multiple damaged poles and lines, according to DOT.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter