Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A motorcycle accident on state Route 6 near Pe Ell yesterday killed one and injured five other motorcyclists, shutting the roadway for hours.

Troopers called just after 2 p.m. to the scene four miles west of town found a group of about 20 motorcyclists had begun their ride in Cowlitz County, ridden a loop on Highway 101 and were heading back toward Chehalis when it happened.

Members of two fire departments and medics with AMR responded to treat the patients, one of which was airlifted from the school, according to Lewis County Fire District 11 Chief Michael Krafczyk.

According to the Washington State Patrol, it began when Shawn M. Jessee, 41, of Longview, failed to negotiate a left-hand curve, lost control of his Honda VTX180 on the gravel shoulder and hit the guardrail. He and his passenger Teresa F. Jessee, 47, of Longview, were both ejected but his bike headed back into the eastbound lane where it was struck by another motorcyclist.

That rider, Ronald L. Carr, 56, of Castle Rock, was ejected.

A third motorcyclist, Cheryl F. Palm, 50, also of Castle Rock, lost control, landed on the roadway and was hit by a fourth bike, according to the state patrol.

Krafczyk said firefighters started CPR on Teresa F. Jessee, but arriving medics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Responders from Lewis County Fire District 16 set up a landing zone at the Pe Ell school, and Palm was flown to Oregon Health and Sciences University Hospital, according to responders.

All were wearing helmets, Trooper Terry Brunstad said.

The state Department of Transportation shut down the highway, for about five hours while troopers conducted their investigation, Brunstad said. There was nowhere to create a detour, he said.

“The road was just littered with bikes and parts,” Brunstad said.

A spokesperson for Providence Centralia Hospital said this morning that Shawn M. Jessee was treated and has been released. Carr was treated and transferred to an unspecified hospital, spokesperson Chris Thomas said.

The man and woman from Clatskanie traveling on the fourth motorcycle were injured but not hospitalized, and their Harley Davidson was able to be driven from the scene, according to the state patrol.

A fixed-wing plane flies over the wildfire at the Pacific-Lewis county line. / Courtesy photo by Mary Huels, DNR

Updated at 9:33 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A forest fire burning southwest of Pe Ell has drawn some 200 individuals who have set up camp for the night at the Falls Creek Retreat Center about 10 miles west of town in Pacific County.

The fire was reported at 5:15 p.m. yesterday and is on private timberland owned by Rayonier.

“Right now it’s all industrial timberland, not a large threat to any homes or personal property,” Nick Cronquist, a spokesperson for the state Department of Natural Resources said this evening.

Late this afternoon, flames had run over some 93 acres, according to Cronquist. It doubled in size overnight.

“It’s really big for this neck of the woods,” he said. “It boils down to the weather we’re having.”

Seven fire engines, eight water tenders and 13 hand crews battled the blaze today, along with three helicopters, plus a fixed wing plane which is supervising all the aircraft, he said. It’s zero percent contained.

The firefighters come from local area fire districts, DNR and even some from the National Forest Service, he said.

A tanker which would fill its belly with water from Willapa Bay was ordered, but Cronquist said he didn’t know if it got any runs in before the sun went down.

The smoke and glow are within eye site of the town of Pe Ell, at the far west end of Lewis County, he said.

A crew from the Larch Correctional Facility brought a kitchen in, he said.

The National Weather Service began warning earlier this week that an expected combination of low humidity and east winds would cause vegetation to dry out, making conditions ripe for wild fires.

Lewis County Fire District 11 Chief Michael Krafczyk was among those who gathered this morning at the VFW Hall in Pe Ell to strategize for the day. District 11 provided water support today.

The fire is under the command of DNR’s Pacific Cascade Region.

Nobody has been injured, Cronquist said, but winds yesterday evening caused them to pull crews off the fire.

No night operations were planned, but two engines will monitor the fire, he said.

A morning briefing is planned for 6 a.m., and they’ll get back at it, he said.

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CORRECTION: This news story has been updated to correctly reflect the number of hand crews working the fire today.

Local fire departments join crews from DNR battling wildfire at the Pacific-Lewis county line. / Courtesy photo by Mary Huels, DNR

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Courtesy image Department of Natural Resources

Facing west from north of Pe Ell on the 1500 Line last night. / Courtesy photo by Nate Holmes

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Fire personnel are gathered at the VFW Hall in Pe Ell making plans to attack a wildfire on private timberland.

“We’re working on setting up facilities and things for about 200 people coming this way,”  Lewis County Fire District 11 Chief Michael Krafczyk said this morning.

Krafczyk and other local firefighters are assisting the state Department of Natural Resources, which is in charge of the fire.

Krafczyk said he learned at a 7 a.m. briefing the fire doubled in size from last night, and is burning an estimated 50 to 60 acres.

Exactly where it is, he couldn’t say this morning, but the access road is between Pe Ell and the Swiss Park in Francis to the west, he said. And then about an hour’s drive beyond paved roads, he said.

A DNR spokesperson said the fire is burning on a logging site, and two helicopters have been summoned.

“It’s not threatening (Pe Ell) or anything like that,” Krafczyk said. “Just forest land, right now.”

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The short flight of the single-engine plane that crashed and burned in Chehalis was rocky from the start, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

For an unexplained reason, the pilot began his take off on the grass, well back from the approach end of the runway and bounced on the uneven terrain as its speed increased, according to the recently released preliminary report  from the NTSB.

Courtesy photo by Bill Klumbs

“The witness further reported that the airplane subsequently made it onto the runway’s surface and became airborne, but the initial climb was not stabilized; the airplane’s wings were rocking from side to side, and it’s nose was pitching up and down,” the report states.

Within moments, the three-quarter-scale replica of a popular WWII fighter plane, was wrecked and burning in a fenced lot across Interstate 5 from the Chehalis-Centralia Airport; it’s only occupant dead. Firefighters responding the evening of Aug. 26 to the location along Maryland Avenue found the nearly all-wood aircraft virtually consumed.

The pilot Gregory G. Graham, 66, of Centralia, had recently purchased the so-called kit plane, trailered it in and reassembled it, according to authorities.

Peter Knudson, a spokesperson for the NTSB, said he didn’t know if that was its first flight after being put back together.

The NTSB’s report simply describes the facts and circumstances of the incident, it doesn’t contain any analysis or point to a cause, Knudson said today. The average length of an investigation is 12 months.

“There’s a lot of work yet to be done,” Knudson said.

Chehalis-Centralia Airport Manager Allyn Roe described the plane as a P5151 Mustang. The NTSB labels it a Thomas C. Sikes Loehle 5151 Mustang.

The aircraft is classified by the NTSB an experimental plane, meaning it was built by an individual and not a factory.

The day after the incident, Roe told of an out-of-the-area corporate jet pilot, who watched the small plane take off to the north and never really going any higher than about 100 feet.

The investigator with the NTSB cites a professional pilot who observed the take off from the airport’s south perimeter road, from behind the plane. The un-named witness stated the plane made a right turn of about 180 degrees as it continued its wobbling climb.

“The airplane the(n) went into a right bank and steep nose down attitude from an altitude of about 500 feet above ground level prior to impacting terrain to the east of his location,” the report states.

Its landing spot, at the Chehalis Collision Center next to the freeway and near a residential neighborhood, was a little more than two football field lengths from where its take off run began, according to the report.

Nobody on the ground was injured, but at least two parked trucks in the lot were damaged.
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For background, read “Professional pilot watched small plane struggle to climb before deadly Chehalis crash” from Wednesday Aug. 27, 2014, here