A firefighter in front of Just Wood Furniture in Centralia is one of several putting water on the blaze that broke out around 3 o'clock Saturday morning. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A three-alarm fire ravaged a furniture store in Centralia overnight and spread to a neighboring former gas station before it was knocked down.
The Just Wood furniture business on Harrison Avenue near Yew Street sounds like it’s a complete loss, an assistant fire chief said this morning as he was coming on duty.
“The (convenience) store next door had already started burning when units were arriving, therefore, it was pretty advanced,” Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Mike Kytta said.
One firefighter sustained an ankle injury and was hospitalized, but he has since been treated and released, Kytta said.
Firefighters were called around 3 a.m. and found the business with an adjoining two-story shop ablaze, according to Kytta.
They kept the damage to the Centralia Food Mart to a minimum – its one wall was charred – and protected another nearby office building, he said. The Food Mart used to be a service station, but its gas pumps and tanks have been removed, according to Kytta.
The assistant chief said he expected the some of the department and investigators to be on site much of today.
Centralia police said Harrison Avenue between West First and Yew streets would be closed until 3 p.m.
The last three-alarm fire Kytta could recall was four years ago when half of Oakview Elementary School in north Centralia was destroyed by runaway fireworks.
The flames begin to consume the street side storefront of Just Wood Furniture. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
Fire trucks from Centralia and Chehalis sit on Harrison Avenue early Saturday morning. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
Firefighters continue to put water on Just Wood Furniture as well as two adjacent buildings which were spared. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
Firefighters battle the three-alarm fire well into Saturday morning. / Photo by Richard LaLonde
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
“A three-alarm fire ravaged a furniture store in Centralia overnight and spread to a neighboring former gas station before it was knocked down.”
Before IT was knocked down? Before the former gas station was knocked down? Before the furniture store was knocked down? Before the fire was knocked down. Not sure what Strunk and White might say, but regardless, the typical reader will pause at least a moment here to ask “until what was knocked down?” I would say “until the blaze was knocked down” or better yet “before firefighters could knock down the blaze.”
Fun with pronouns. Just sayin’.