Lewis County Sirens.com

Fire erupts in the backyard of a West Walnut Street house. / Courtesy photo by Crystal Bowman

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Flames ravaged a detached garage behind a home last night, the second such incident in Centralia in less than a week.

Both fires are being investigated as arsons.

Centralia police arrived first after the approximately 8 p.m. call to the 1000 block of West Walnut Street, offering helpful early information, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

“We showed up, it was a fairly good-sized garage,” Firefighter-paramedic Jade Gross said. “We attacked it from the alleyway.”

Gross said the owner was alerted by older neighborhood children who spotted the fire and pounded on her door so she could call 911.

The crew was joined by firefighters from Chehalis and were on the scene until about midnight, Gross said.

Inside the structure and ruined were a small pickup truck, a motorcycle and a large amount of other personal property, he said.

“It was a complete loss,” Gross said.

Also burned was a travel trailer, some of a neighbor’s fence and outdoor children’s toys, he said.

A fire investigator was expecting to examine the scene today. Centralia police indicate there was no good explanation for the fire, and it is currently classified as an arson.

The garage’s doorless entry opened to the alley, according to Gross.

Early last Sunday morning, a large shed was destroyed by fire on the 1100 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia; it was in a backyard adjacent to the railroad tracks. The rear of the house in that 2:30 a.m. blaze sustained minor damage.

Nobody was hurt in either incident.

Looking toward what remains inside the destroyed garage from next door neighbor’s backyard. / Courtesy photo by Aaron Cogburn

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

It was an unfortunate series of events that led to the loss of a two-story farmhouse near Adna, according to fire officials.

Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said the cause of the blaze was accidental, originating with a barbecue.

Firefighters called about 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday to the 300 block of Spooner Road found the garage in the back fully involved in flames. Lewis County Fire District 6 Chief Tim Kinder said when he arrived, he saw flames coming out the front of the first story.

Three hundred block Spooner Road

“Unfortunately, with the 100-plus-year-old house, once fire got inside the walls, it raced up into the attic area and through the roof,” Kinder said.

Kinder said he had to pull personnel out, and fight the fire defensively at that point, for safety reasons.

The couple who live there had relocated the home from another part of the valley and put it back together, Kinder said. “It was his grandfather’s place.”

Members of seven other fire departments joined them, working until about midnight, according to Kinder.

“Distance to water was the hard part,” he said.

Nine tenders shuttled water from a hydrant at Adna High School, he said.

“We used so many, because turnaround time was 20 minutes,” he said.

Kinder yesterday said he was grateful to Dave Martin at Tyler Rentals, who he was able to call that night and responded to a request for an excavator; and to Ron Sandrini operated it.

They used the machine to pull parts of the building down, so crews could attempt to finish putting out the fire, he said.

“There’s nothing left, it’s gone,” he said of the house.

Nobody was injured, but the house and its contents were destroyed.

Kinder said the owner had pulled his barbecue into the door-well of the garage, because it had started to rain.

He said he went in the house to get food for the barbecue and when he came back out, he noticed a patch on the floor on fire, he said.

He went to get a hose, and returned to find a wall on fire, Kinder said.

By the time he was spraying the wall, a second wall had caught fire, he said.

“It was very unfortunate,” Kinder said.

McCarty said they don’t know exactly what caused the barbecue to catch the floor on fire.

The chief said they started to get Red Cross to assist the couple, but neighbors responded.

“Half the families in Adna were out there already giving their help,” he said. “They were very well cared for.”

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A judge set bail at $500,000 yesterday for the Centralia man suspected of trafficking a large amount of methamphetamine.

About five pounds of meth, a scale, a ledger, 10 cell phones and cutting agent to be co-mingled with the drug were found when officers searched the home of Miguel Perez-Espinoza and during their followup investigation on Tuesday, according to court documents. More than $12,000 cash turned up as well.

Miguel Perez-Espinoza

Perez-Espinoza was a primary suspect from a case four years ago when local and federal law enforcement officers discovered more than 12 pounds of meth during a search warrant execution on 100 block of Elma Drive in Centralia, but he disappeared, according to the Centralia Police Department.

The U.S. Marshals Service has a no-bail hold on Perez-Espinoza because that case is pending in U.S. District Court, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said.

Masiello said even though Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey set the bail high, he wasn’t certain if federal agents might not take custody of the defendant and consider folding the local case into their federal case.

Perez-Espinoza has no felony criminal history.

In court yesterday afternoon, he told the judge he spoke only a little English, so a Spanish language translator was used.

Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke said her client was working before, but not currently, so he qualified for a court-appointed attorney.

Perez-Espinoza was charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, an offense with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, but a standard sentencing range of 12 to 24 months under state law, according to O’Rourke.

Prosecutors added so-called enhancements to the charges that the alleged crime took place within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop, involved a substantial amount of drugs and with a firearm being present. However Masiello said after the brief hearing there was no gun in the current case.

He’d mistakenly added that language, he said, but the information was about a firearm involved in the 2010 case.

According to charging documents, police found approximately a half pound of meth and the other items at the home where Perez-Espinoza lives on 200 block of West Second Street.

Officers learned he was storing more meth at another Centralia residence, and after contacting the occupant there, discovered the other four and half pounds, charging documents state.

Police seized three passenger vehicles as well.
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For background, read “Centralia’s drug team scores big; mass meth, cash” from Tuesday October 14, 2014, here