Rural Chehalis home gutted by fire

May 18th, 2012
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Josh Mischler, a friend of the resident, helps firefighters move some items out of the garage, while others continue to spray water and foam on the home.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Firefighters responding to a call of a possible brush fire southwest of Chehalis this afternoon found a house fully engulfed in flames.

Nobody was home at the time, but a couple arrived while crews were still extinguishing the blaze to find their single-story home gutted.

Lewis County Fire District 5 was called about smoke by a passerby on Pleasant Valley and Brown Road East. When they arrived about 3:40 p.m. the the roof on the home on Larkspur Road had already collapsed, according to fire department member Megan Van Egdom

They fought the fire from the outside.

The closest next neighbors are fairly far away and said they only noticed some smoke, Chief Eric Linn said.

Lewis County Fire Districts 6 and 15 joined them, shuttling water tenders in. The area has no fire hydrants.

The 1700 square-foot home and its contents are a complete loss, according to District 5.

VanEgdom, assistant medical service officer for the department, said the cause is unknown.

“We don’t know, they’re gonna have to bring an investigator out,” she said.

Chief Linn said they were advised there were pets in the house, but they hadn’t found them yet..

Three children live there as well, according to VanEgdom.

The Red Cross was contacted and a volunteer chaplain responded to assist the residents.

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The roof collapsed before firefighters even arrived.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 18th, 2012

BIG CLUB GETS MAN IN TROUBLE

• A 58-year-old Centralia man was arrested for felony harassment after he allegedly threatened his neighbor with a large club yesterday morning. Officers called about 8 a.m.  to the 1000 block of North Tower Avenue booked John M. Allocca into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS

• Three people were arrested yesterday afternoon after a call about suspicious activity at Schaeffer Park north of Centralia. An officer recognized a passenger as someone wanted on a warrant and he was arrested for that as well as possession of marijuana, according to police. Seth P.E. Shamley, 30, of Olympia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police. Another passenger, Shamarah M. Mumford, 28, of Lacey, was also arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, according to police. The driver, Charissa N. Shamely, 33, Olympia, was arrested for possession of heroin and a suspended license, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 16-year-old Centralia boy was arrested for possession of suspected cocaine and methamphetamine after an officer contacted him and another person walking on the 1800 block of North Pearl Street about 1:45 p.m. yesterday. The other individual, Mario Vasquez Jr., 21, also of Centralia, was arrested for an outstanding warrant, according to the Centralia Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail. The juvenile’s name was not released.

THEFT

• Someone cut the catalytic converter from a truck while it was parked in the lot at the Twin City Town Center on Thursday, according to police. An officer called just after 5 p.m. learned it happened sometime after about 8 a.m. while its owner was at work at the Grocery Outlet, according to the Chehalis Police Department

• Chehalis police were called yesterday morning to an apartment complex storage room where someone had broken a hasp and made off with six pairs of hand pruners, two sets of black and blue rain gear, a small gas engine and a grease gun. It happened at the 200 block of Southwest 11th Street, according to police.

WRECK

• A 46-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for driving under the influence following a two-vehicle collision yesterday afternoon at the 5100 block of Jackson Highway near Toledo. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports Roger Nissell pulled out of a parking lot and failed to yield to a northbound pickup truck. Nissell was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. There were no injuries and only moderate vehicle damage, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

EXPECT FIREWORKS NOISE TOMORROW

• Folks may see and hear large-scale fireworks over the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds tomorrow night as a Seattle company puts on a training for those who conduct public fireworks displays. Be prepared for intermittent noise between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., says fair manager Gail Sobolesky. Unfortunately, the public is not invited.

Two named employee of the year at Centralia Police Department

May 18th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Two individuals were named employee of the year at the Centralia Police Department as honors were announced in recognition of courage, service and sacrifice.

Named as employee of the year for 2011 were Officer John Panco and records technician Taresa Robertson.

The announcements came during last week’s city council meeting, in advance of National Police Week.

The same night, certificates of commendation were presented to Officer Neil Hoium and Officer Patty Finch.

Panco and Officer Ruben Ramirez, were recipients of life-saving ribbons, for conducting CPR on an unresponsive elderly man.

Police Cmdrs. Jim Rich and Dave Ross joined Chief Bob Berg in presenting the awards.

Five members of the police department were recognized for five year of service, and records technician Gayle Mulligan was recognized for 45 years of service with the police agency.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 17th, 2012

FIVE MISSING APPLIANCES

• A deputy was called about 10:40 a.m. yesterday to a rental residence on the 800 block of Bunker Creek Road outside Chehalis where appliances had been stolen from a carport. Taken sometime since last Thursday were a washing machine, two refrigerators and two stoves according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at $450, according to the sheriff’s office.

CAR PROWL

• Chehalis police will be checking security video from Wal-Mart after getting a call abut 8:10 p.m. yesterday abut a car prowl in its parking lot on the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue. An employee said she left her window rolled down about an inch and subsequently discovered a lunch box, phone and sweatshirt missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Just after 10 p.m., an officer was called to the parking lot in the Twin CIty Town Center at the 1500 block of Louisiana Avenue where someone had stolen a purse from a vehicle the victim said had been locked.

DRUGS

• Police arrested a 29-year-old Centralia resident for possession of methamphetamine after he was seen stuffing something in his pants as he got out of a vehicle last night. Conrad J. Perry was contacted in connection with alleged driving negligently about 8:30 p.m. at the 2300 block of North Pearl Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

VANDALISM

• Police were called to Kaija’s garden and pet store on Northwest State Avenue just before 9 o’clock yesterday morning to a report someone had thrown feces all over a window. An officer’s report noted  the material had been left in a flower bed there, and someone also had cut open bags containing red rock.

TEEN FOUND UNDER TRUCK

• Police were called to Northwest Prindle and Front streets in Chehalis just before 3 o’clock this morning after a firefighter discovered a teenage girl underneath a semi-truck there. She was scared, cold and did not recall what happened, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Her mother was contacted and took her to the hospital, for reasons not noted in the police report, according to Officer Linda Bailey.

Sheriff: Underage drinking party preceded Chehalis teen’s death on roadway

May 16th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed 16-year-old Tyler Gonzalez was one of many juveniles drinking alcohol at a residence near where he was run over by a vehicle and killed over the weekend.

Detectives have interviewed several attendees at the underage party and have learned who provided the alcohol, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said today.

It’s possible that person could be in trouble, but the investigation isn’t finished yet, according to Brown.

“I don’t have a lot more I can release about who provided the alcohol,” Brown said. “They’re aware. We’ve talked to them.”

The sheriff’s office is awaiting the return of toxicology test results from Gonzalez, according to Brown. They can take as long as two months.

The sophomore from W.F. West High School died early Saturday morning after he left the party and for unknown reasons laid down in the roadway, according to the sheriff’s office.

It happened about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday on Brockway Road near Chilvers Road, about a mile west of Chehalis. He was struck by an SUV.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield called it another sad and tragic incident involving alcohol and juveniles.

“Poor decisions and choices were made with the end result being the loss of a young man’s life,” Mansfield stated in a news release. “The consequences of underage drinking continue to serve as a solemn reminder of how quickly people’s lives and families can be destroyed and altered forever.”

The young people, around 10 of them, were drinking beer and hard liquor in a shop building that sits back from the home, according to Brown.

“The parents were unaware there was a party going on, they were asleep,” she said.

The Washington State Patrol investigated the incident and indicated no charges were expected for the 50-year-old driver of the SUV.

The coroner has concluded the death was an accident.

W.F. West High School students will be hosting a candle light vigil in their classmate’s honor at 7 o’clock tomorrow night in the school’s Bearcat Stadium.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

May 16th, 2012

HOLE CUT IN FLOOR TO RETRIEVE WANTED MAN FROM CRAWL SPACE

• Police last night found the 24-year-old defendant wanted after fleeing a courtroom last week, hiding in the crawl space under his parent’s Centralia home. Officers at about 11:45 p.m. went to the house on the 100 block of West Roanoke Street and were told Ryan W. Aumiller was not there but they could come in and take a look around, Sgt. Brian Warren said. They suspected he was under the house but when they contacted him by cell phone, he insisted he was somewhere else, Warren said. After about a half hour of negotiating, they gave him a countdown, telling him a police dog would be sent under the house if he didn’t come out, according to Warren. Warren’s K-9 partner Kayo located Aumiller, who stopped responding to officers and was in too tight of quarters to get to, according to Warren. The resident used a skill saw to cut a hole in a bedroom floor and Aumiller was “extracted” that way, according to authorities. Aumiller was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital to be treated for a dog bite and a possible drug overdose, according to Warren. He was transferred to the jail this morning.

CHEHALIS RESIDENT: DRUG MONEY STOLEN

• Police are still waiting to hear back from a 25-year-old Chehalis man who called 911 on Monday night and said he was assaulted by a man who stole $100 from him that was intended to purchase drugs. “It appears they were going to buy drugs, the suspect punched the vicim and took his money,”  Officer Gwen Carrell said this morning. The man told police he got out the car from the suspect and walked home. The victim was intoxicated and asked to come back after he sobered up to give a better statement of what happened, she said.

GUN THEFT

• Several firearms were among the valuables stolen in a burglary on the 1000 block of Highway 603 outside Chehalis, the Lewis County Sheriff’s office reported yesterday. A deputy called to the home on Monday evening was told it happened sometime between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. that day. Among the missing weapons were a Bushmaster AR15, a Mossberg shotgun, a rifle and a pistol, as well as several more guns from a bedroom, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Also taken, a Dell laptop computer, a 40-inch television, a Blu-ray player and other items, according to the sheriff’s office.

CRIME STOPPERS WANTS TO SOLVE SEMINARY HILL BURGLARY

• Lewis County Crime Stoppers is hoping for tips that will lead detectives to whoever was behind a residential burglary last month in Centralia and got away with an estimated $2,900 of valuables including a .22 pistol, prescription medications, computer equipment, jewelry and Nikon binoculars. The break-in at the 2600 block of Seminary Hill Road occurred between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on April 24, according to Crime Stoppers. The organization takes anonymous tips at 1-800-748-6422 and pays up to $1,000 for information leading to the clearance of crimes.

METAL THEFT

• An 18-year-old Longview man was arrested in connection with iron pipes from his parents Toledo-area home that were taken to a Longview recycler, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office said Laine C. Buck unloaded about 600 pounds of the metal in just one of the trips they say he made. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail on Monday for second-degree theft.

GARDENING THEFT

• Police were called about 1:30 p.m. yesterday to the 700 block of Southwest Cascade Avenue in Chehalis where someone had stolen a weed eater and gas can.

CAR PROWL

• Centralia police took a report about 11:30 a.m. on Monday that someone stole a purse from a vehicle while its owner was shopping at the 500 block of Harrison Avenue.

• Police were called to a parking lot at Northeast Division Street in Chehalis about 9:20 a.m. on Monday after someone got into a locked van and stole prescription Hydrocodone. A door handle was damaged, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

WOMAN’S MISSING LAPTOP RETURNED

• Chehalis police got a phone call on Monday that somebody had found a laptop computer in a parking lot on the 100 block of West Main Street the previous Friday. An officer left a message about it with a woman who previously reported she misplaced her computer when she took it out of her vehicle after an accident, according to  Officer Gwen Carrell.

DRUGS

• A 24-year-old woman was arrested just before midnight for possession of heroin following contact with police at the 100 block of East Roanoke Street in Centralia. Kari N. Driver was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Driver is to be released without charges pending further investigation.

• Centralia police reported they arrested a 22-year-old Napavine man  on Monday night at the 2500 block of North National Avenue for possession of methamphetamine. Clifford R. Amos was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer about 8:30 p.m., according to the Centralia Police Department.

ASSAULT

• Chehalis police were called to Green Hill School on Monday afternoon after a 16-year-old student-inmate allegedly kicked a staff member in the leg. The case will be referred to prosecutors for a possible charge of custodial assault, according to Chehalis police.

ANIMAL CRIMES

• Police took a report about 5:45 p.m. Monday from the 1200 block of Alder Street in Centralia that someone shot a female’s dog with a pellet gun. It did not need medical attention, according to police. The investigation was not yet finished.

• A Packwood resident is getting a fine after his black labrador bit a 70-year-old man in a wheel chair who was on his way to the post office yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. It happened near the 12,000 block of U.S. Highway 12 . The victim was taken to Morton General Hospital with two puncture wounds and a hematoma, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

• Morton police were called to investigate a report of several raccoons in a tree behind a residence on the 300 block of Adams Avenue about 5:30 in the morning one day last week. The animals fled prior to the officer’s arrival, according to police.

VEHICLE FIRE

• A Chehalis man escaped injury when his pickup truck burnt up last night as he was heading home from Stan Hedwall Park on Rice Road. Matt Wilkes said he smelled gas and thought he’d “baby it home” but then the 1989 Ford F-150 caught fire about a mile up the road. Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Casey Beck said the cab of the vehicle was engulfed in flames before crews extinguished the fire. Beck blamed a fuel leak.

SUSPICIOUS FIRE CENTRALIA

• Firefighters doused a blaze in a large shipping container behind a home on the 2400 block of Seward Avenue in Centralia about 8 o’clock last night. Police talked with a 14-year-old boy who admitted to starting the fire on his friend’s property, according to Riverside Fire Authority assistant Chief Rick Mack. The case will be referred for potential charging, according to police, but authorities would like to get the teenager diverted in their Juvenile Fire Setters Program, Mack said. The contents of the container were mostly refuse, Mack said.

COUPLE ESCAPES HOUSE FIRE

• A problem in an HVAC system appeared to be behind a house fire on Monday west of Millersylvania State Park, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority. Firefighters from Rochester, Little Rock and four other area departments responded to the approximately 3:40 p.m. call, according to Lt. Lanette Dyer. Two adults alerted by a smoke alarm escaped without injury from the tri-level home on the 10900 block of Lone Tree Lane Southwest, according to Dyer. She described the damage as moderate.

Search resumes for teen lost in Chehalis River

May 16th, 2012

Updated at 9:23 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Responders are preparing to go back in the Chehalis River this morning hoping to find a 16-year-old Rochester High School student who vanished while swimming yesterday.

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Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority

More than 30 rescue personnel scoured the river and its banks after the call yesterday evening to an area southwest of Rochester.

While they suspended their search at dark, there is the possibility the teen somehow made it to shore, according to a spokesperson for West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

“He might have hunkered down for the night for shelter,” Lt. Lanette Dyer said. “There’s still hope. We’re gonna stay on the positive side.”

The approximately 5 p.m. call to 911 came immediately after the teen went under water, according to Dyer.

The West Thurston fire department said shortly after the boy jumped in the river to catch up with two 18-year-old girls, his 14-year-old brother on the shore realized something was wrong.

“He wasn’t yelling for help, but he kept going up and down in the water,” Dyer said.

The 14-year-old alerted the girls who turned around and started swimming back toward him, but he went under and didn’t come up, she said.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said the dive rescue team is returning this morning. The Special Operations Rescue Team (SORT) comprised of firefighters from several agencies is expected back as well. The Washington State patrol put a plane in the air and ground crews were en route to walk the land along the river, she said.

The spot is on the 12,600 block of Independence Road is about two miles west of the bridge at Michigan Hill Road.

Dyer said with the beautiful spring weather yesterday, the river looked inviting but this time of year, the waters are not as safe as they might appear.

“It’s smooth as glass on top, and underneath, it’s just ripping,” she said.

The boy is Christopher P. Garay, 16, from Rochester.

His mother was among some three dozen individuals, including many of his classmates, who gathered yesterday during the search, according to Dyer.

“One of the things she asked us to share with the media is to ask for all people not to give up hope,” Dyer said. “And she has put her faith in God and she is relying on that faith to see her son through.”

Update at 2:30 p.m: Searchers found his body about 11:30 a.m. today, at the bottom of the river less than 50 yards from where he was last seen, according to sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin.