TRIO HURT IN ETHEL AREA ROLLOVER CRASH
• Three people were injured when an SUV wrecked and caught fire south of Ethel yesterday afternoon. Firefighters and aid called around 4 p.m. to Spencer Road near Classe Road found passersby had stopped to help the occupants from the vehicle which had rolled, Lewis County Fire District 8 Assistant Chief Don Taylor said. Someone used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames, he said. Taylor said he believed the patients were all men and said there were some serious injuries, but not critical. “They were banged up pretty good,” he said.
ONE INJURED IN CENTRALIA ROLLOVER WRECK
• Firefighters were called just before 5 p.m. yesterday to a rollover accident on the 3700 block of Cooks Hill Road in Centralia. The car had gone off the road into some trees, according to Riverside Fire Authority. One occupant was able to get himself out and had no complaints of injuries but the other man was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, Fire Capt. Greg Schwartz said.
TENINO CRASH SENDS MAN TO HARBORVIEW
• A 26-year-old man is in serious condition this morning after a single-vehicle collision near Tenino yesterday. Troopers called just before 7 a.m. to McDuff Road at 143rd Avenue Southeast found the Ford Bronco had left the road and hit a tree, landing on its top, according to the Washington State Patrol. The vehicle was described as totaled. The driver, Josef C. Kutcha, 26, of Tenino, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to the state patrol. The cause is under investigation.
FOUR-VEHICLE COLLISION ON I-5 NEAR VADER
• Two vehicles were totaled and two people hospitalized after a four-vehicle rear-end collision on Interstate 5 near Vader on Wednesday afternoon. Troopers were called at 2 p.m. to the southbound lanes near milepost 59 where a car driven by a 19-year-old Salem, Ore. woman had been following too closely and struck a Dodge Dakota, which ran into a Ford Escort, according to the state patrol. A Plymouth Neon driven by an 18-year-old Centralia woman ran into the rear of the Oregon woman’s car; both of those were destroyed, the patrol reported. Abby M. Gordon, 18, of Centralia, was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with an ankle injury and a 19-year-old California woman who was a passenger in the Oregon woman’s car sustained a back injury and was transported to St. John Medical Center in Longview, according to the patrol.
WOMAN WRECKS CAR EVADING POLICE IN CENTRALIA
• A 29-year-old Olympia woman was arrested for a warrant and reckless driving after she reportedly drove through a yard and wrecked her vehicle as an officer was trying to stop her on Friday afternoon near the 1800 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department. Lori A. Romero continued to circle a city block after an officer signaled her to stop around 2:30 p.m and then wrecked as she tried to make a right turn, according to police.
POLICE: GRAFFITI TAGGER CAUGHT IN ACT
• A 21-year-old Centralia man was arrested for allegedly “tagging”
a vehicle and several buildings with graffiti on Thursday night in Centralia, according to police. Genaro M. Rivas was arrested for third-degree malicious mischief and booked into jail after the incidents observed by an officer near the 500 block of Hillkress Street, according to the Centralia Police Department.
FIRE BREAKS OUT IN VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER’S HOUSE
• Crews were called Friday night to a structure fire at the home on a volunteer firefighter in Ryderwood. The fire was confined to a mattress and there was some water damage; it was caused by a faulty heating pad, according to Assistant Fire Chief Ruth Crear of Lewis-Cowlitz 20 – formerly Lewis County Fire District 7 in Vader and Cowlitz County Fire District 4 in Ryderwood which have combined. Crear said nobody was in the bed at the time of the 8:40 p.m. call to Allinder Road. About 15 volunteers responded and did an “excellent job”, Crear said. “The house is still standing and he can still live there,” she said.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter