Lewis County Sirens.com

FIRE BURNS DOWN TINY OLD HOUSE IN CENTRALIA

• An old logger’s shack in Centralia was destroyed by fire yesterday evening and investigators are still looking into the cause. Firefighters called about 5:30 p.m. to the approximately 20-foot by 20-foot house on the 1100 block of Woodland Avenue were able to contain the blaze to the 1920’s vintage building used for storage, according to Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Scott Snyder. A female occupant of a close-by residence was taken to the hospital by AMR but not for any kind of smoke or fire injury, Snyder said.

FIRE BREAKS OUT IN WINLOCK APARTMENT BUILDING

• A sprinkler system and a young man with a fire extinguisher prevented some “pretty disastrous consequences” when a fire broke out in a three-story downtown Winlock Building on Friday, according to Lewis County Fire District 15. Firefighters from Winlock, Napavine and Toledo were called about 10:30 a.m. to the structure on the 300 block of Northeast First Street. District 15 Firefighter Kevin Anderson said the blaze was contained to the apartment of origin on the second floor although it sustained smoke and water damage. The building burned many years go and when it was rebuilt, sprinkler were installed, Anderson said. Anderson said there are seven or eight apartments in the upper levels and had the flames escaped the apartment, the other occupants would have had to pass right by it to get out of the building. “The sprinklers did a great job, if there wouldn’t have been sprinklers in, there would have been some pretty disasterous consequences,” he said. The resident is being taken care of by the Red Cross and the other occupants of the building were able to return to their homes, according to Anderson.

PE ELL FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS BACK SOME STOLEN ITEMS

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports they arrested and jailed a 24-year-old Centralia man last Thursday found in possession of some of the equipment stolen from the Pe Ell fire department the week before last. More than $18,000 worth of tools and other items such as the Jaws of Life were removed from fire vehicles in a burglary to the station on state Route 6. The sheriff’s office said a tip led them to a Centralia man suspected of trying to sell a generator and subsequently the recovery of a tool box, an axe and a work light. Deputies booked the man into the Lewis County Jail for felony possession of stolen property, however, he was released from jail this morning with no charges filed. Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said because the value of the items the individual was allegedly in possession of was less than $750, his case will be referred for a possible charge of misdemeanor possession of stolen property in Lewis County District Court. The sheriff’s office said today there is a second person of interest in the case they are looking for.

THEFT

• Police were called about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday to an area near the 300 block of James Street in Chehalis where a gray 2009 Honda car had been stolen.

• Centralia police took a report on Friday of a “Gator” ATV and a gas can taken from a building. The ATV was later found abandoned near a the river, according to police. The incident is associated with an address on the 500 block of Pioneer Way in Centralia.

• Police were called about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday to a tow company’s impound yard on Southwest Riverside Drive in Chehalis for an attempted theft. Someone had cut a gate lock and moved a car dolly trailer near the gate as though they were going to take it, according to police.

• Chehalis police were called Friday afternoon by a woman who lost her Visa card and then discovered someone had used it three times racking up charges of around $80. The woman thought she may have lost it walking along Southwest Cascade Avenue near Safeway, according to police.

• Several vehicles were prowled in an alley near the 900 block of E Street in Centralia, according to a report made to the Centralia Police Department on Saturday.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police were called about 10:20 a.m. yesterday to a business on the 200 block of South Pearl Street where someone had thrown rocks through several windows during the night.

DRUG PARAPHERNALIA TURNED OVER TO POLICE

• Centralia police were called on Friday to the 200 block of Centralia College Boulevard where unspecified drug paraphernalia was found in a basement. It was turned over to an officer.

COLLISIONS

• A school bus loaded with kids collided with a car in Chehalis on Friday morning but no injuries were reported, according to the Chehalis Police Department. A Toyota Camry was at Southwest William Avenue about 8 a.m. to make a right turn onto 13th Street when the bus pulled along side of it and turned right, according to police. The car’s front fender was damaged and no citations were issued, detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that two people were injured in a single-vehicle collision about 2 p.m. on Saturday on the 1200 block of Boistfort Road in Curtis. A 27-year-old passenger was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with broken bones in his face and a broken leg, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver, 25-year-old Jessy R. Schiffman of Curtis, was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with cuts to his hands and a suspected broken ankle, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. The sheriff’s office suspects Schiffman was under the influence of alcohol and has referred the case for a possible charge of vehicular assault, Brown said. The sheriff’s office did not report what the vehicle collided with.

• A 19-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for driving under the influence following a collision about 12:20 a.m. on Sunday on Little Hanaford Road near Salzer Valley Road, according to the  Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office did not report what the vehicle collided with or if the driver, Alyn J. Kreidler, was injured.

• A 51-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for driving under the influence following a collision about 10:15 p.m. on Saturday on Shorey Road near Tune Road outside Chehalis, the  Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. The sheriff’s office did not report what the vehicle collided with or if the driver, Mark (or Marc) W. Boles was injured. That information was not readily available today.

CENTRALIA WOMAN STABBED IN NECK

• A Centralia woman was hospitalized last night after she was stabbed in the back of the neck with a kitchen knife, allegedly by her husband. Centralia police say the woman, in her early 30s, called her brother to pick her up as she and her husband had been fighting. Police were told the husband arrived at the brother’s house on North Pearl Street, forced his way inside, chased her into a bathroom and then attacked her with a knife, Officer Chris Fitzgerald said. The brother took her to Providence Centralia Hospital and the husband followed them there, Fitzgerald said. The hospital called police about 8:30 p.m. The knife missed all the woman’s vital parts and she was treated and has been released from the hospital, according to police. “Very lucky to be alive,” Fitzgerald said this morning. Yovany Hernandez-Gomez, 27, of Centralia, was arrested for first-degree assault and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning they are investigating a burglary  at the Lions Club campground in Mineral in which an estimated $3,650 of items were stolen. A 66-year-old man from Lakewood told a deputy on Wednesday that he had been away from the campground since Sunday and when he returned, he discovered his 13-foot beige-colored boat was gone and someone had gotten inside his recreational vehicle and taken two chainsaws and other camping gear, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. Among the missing items are a MS440 Magnum chainsaw and a 29 Super Farm Boss chainsaw, Brown said.

• Centralia police took a report yesterday from a 21-year-old woman who was defrauded out of $240. The woman said she received a phone call in January from a man who told her she had an outstanding “Pay Day loan” and he gave her some information which made her think he was legitimate, according to police. She gave him her bank account number and social security number, according to the report. She called police after she noticed three unfamiliar withdrawals from her account, totaling $240, according to Officer Chris Fitzgerald.

• Centralia police took a report yesterday of a burglary to a home on the 300 block of South Pearl Street. Sometime between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. yesterday, someone stole jewelry, medication and a small amount of cash, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Police were called just before 6 p.m. yesterday about medication being stolen from a residence on the 1100 block of Scammon Creek Road in Centralia.

DRUGS

• Centralia police arrested a 50-year-old Centralia man for possession of methamphetamine yesterday evening. Ronald W. McNeal was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer on the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue at about 5:20 p.m.