Lewis County Sirens.com

MILL FIRE IN MORTON

• Fire broke out a lumber mill in Morton this afternoon, drawing firefighters from Morton and Glenoma. It started on the ground inside a large building and worked its way up, burning the underside of the roof, insulation, light fixtures and various hydraulic and air lines, according to Fire Investigator Jay Birley. “It could have been worse, the building had sprinklers that put a good brake on the fire,” Birley said tonight. It happened about 3:45 p.m. at the “Tubafor Mill” on the 300 block of state Route 7, according to Birley. They didn’t have any product inside and weren’t operating today, he said, but workers were there conducting maintenance. Nobody was hurt. The damage was such he didn’t expect operations to resume in that portion of the building on Monday, he said. Sawdust was probably a contributing factor, but the cause remains under investigation, Birley said. The mill is now called TMI Forest Products Inc. and manufactures Western Red Cedar fence boards, according to information from the company’s web site.

TEENAGER HOLDS GRANDMOTHER IN HOME

• An 18-year-old Centralia resident was arrested yesterday for unlawful imprisonment after he allegedly refused to let his grandmother leave a home on the 1300 block of West Main Street in Centralia until she agreed to buy him cigarettes. Police, called just before 11:30 a.m. yesterday, say he destroyed various items in the home and went out the window when officers arrived. A police dog tracked the suspect down, according to the Centralia Police Department. Galen R. Whitmeyer was booked into the Lewis County Jail for unlawful imprisonment and malicious mischief, according to police.

BULLET THROUGH WINDOW IN CENTRALIA

• Police were called about 1:45 p.m. on Thursday to a home on the 1300 block of West Main Street in Centralia after a man arrived home and found a bullet hole through a window. The officer found a .22 caliber (low velocity) round inside the house; it had only hit the window and curtains and fallen to the carpet, according to police. Police Sgt. Brian Warren said the resident didn’t have any reason to think he was targeted. Officers are investigating.

MAN CAUGHT MAILING MARIJUANA

• A Rochester man was arrested after he allegedly tried to mail an ounce of marijuana to an out-of-state friend, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday. A deputy was called Wednesday to the UPS distribution center on Hamilton Road south of Chehalis where the sender had dropped off the package containing marijuana and coffee grounds, sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said. The investigation concluded Scott R. Griggs, 30, of Rochester, was trying to send the marijuana to a friend in Pennsylvania, Aust said. Griggs was arrested on Thursday and booked into the Lewis County Jail for attempted delivery of marijuana, Aust said.

Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 25th, 2011 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Sharyn's sirens roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.