GRASS FIRES IN SALKUM, RANDLE
• Hay falling on the exhaust pipe of a one-ton pickup truck ignited yesterday in Salkum, spreading fire to a freshly cut pasture. About a dozen firefighters from Lewis County Fire District 8 were joined by firefighters with the state Department of Natural Resources at the 800 block of Gore Road around 5 p.m., according to Assistant Fire Chief Don Taylor. The truck and an estimated 50 bales of hay – both loaded and sitting in the field – were lost, Taylor said.
• A campfire got out of control near Randle yesterday drawing about seven members of Lewis County Fire District 14 and firefighters with the state Department of Natural Resources. Fire Chief Jeff Jaques said it happened around noontime at recreational property at the River Run Ranch Estates off U.S. Highway 12 east of town. Nobody was hurt and about an acre or more of grass burned, according to Jaques. A travel trailer someone had been dismantling also burned, he said. It happened because the grass around the campfire area had not been adequately cleared beforehand, he said.
DRUGS
• A 51-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine when suspected meth was found in her purse during a traffic stop on Friday night. Deanna M. Frye was stopped about 11:35 p.m. on the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue and found to be driving with a suspended license, according to the Centralia Police Department. She was booked into the Lewis County Jail.
ANOTHER MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT
• A motorcyclist from Kent was hospitalized with a laceration on his nose after his 2005 Yamaha ran into the back of a car at a stop sign at Chilcoat Road near U.S. Highway 12 in Randle yesterday. A trooper called about 12:50 p.m. reported that Christopher T. Darcy, 31, was going too fast when he struck the rear of a Toyota Camry, driven by Louise A. Darcy, 25, also of Kent. Neither vehicle was damaged, according to the Washington State Patrol.
SECOND CHASE NEAR SALZER ROAD FOR SAME SUSPECT
Item below updated 11:55 a.m. on Tuesday Sept. 6, 2011
• A 39-year-old man who eluded deputies last week in the area of Profitt and Salzer roads was apprehended Sunday afternoon after a pursuit that ended on the same dead-end road outside Centralia. Centralia police assisted the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office around 3 p.m. with a chase that began near Salzer Valley Road, went into the city and back out to Salzer Road, according to law enforcement. The vehicle was boxed in and both the driver and passenger fled into the brush, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Sara A. Jones, 34, of Centralia was taken into custody, with some minor injuries from bare feet and barbed wire, Cmdr. Steve Aust said. Police dog Kayo was called in and subsequently caught up to Jerry L. Warfield, 39, of Rochester, Aust said. Aust said Warfield refused to give up and was bitten in his lower left leg by the dog. Both were treated at Providence Centralia Hospital and then booked into jail, Aust said. Warfield was wanted on a warrant from the state Department of Corrections, according to the sheriff’s office.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter