{"id":27066,"date":"2014-08-26T21:18:39","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T04:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=27066"},"modified":"2014-08-27T20:23:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T03:23:12","slug":"one-dead-in-fiery-plane-crash-in-chehalis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=27066","title":{"rendered":"One dead in fiery plane crash in Chehalis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2014.0826.plan.crash.martha.harjo\"<\/a>

A small plane and parked vehicles burn in the parking lot of Chehalis Collision Center. \/ Courtesy photo by Martha Harjo<\/p><\/div>\n

Updated at 9:34 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Sharyn L. Decker<\/strong>
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEHALIS \u2013 A small plane crashed this evening into a parking lot across Interstate 5 from the Chehalis Airport, killing its pilot.<\/p>\n

It struck two pickup trucks which caught fire, sending a column of black smoke into the sky at the scene just southeast of the Chamber of Commerce Way freeway interchange.<\/p>\n

“All I have now is witnesses saw it took off at the airport and saw it go up and come down,” Chehalis Police Department Sgt. Gwen Carrell said. “It was a kit plane.”<\/p>\n

The pilot’s family was at the airport when it took off, she said.<\/p>\n

Firefighters called about 6:48 p.m. to the 900 block of Maryland Avenue were still spraying water and foam onto the vehicles more than a half hour later.<\/p>\n

“I was just getting ready to water my flowers and I heard a big crash, kaboom,” nearby neighbor Judy Martin said. “I saw all this huge black smoke and then heard another explosion.”<\/p>\n

Chehalis Fire Department Chief Rob Gebhart said it was only the one victim involved.<\/p>\n

The two trucks were fully engulfed in flames, he said.<\/p>\n

“I started putting out the fire on the pickups and kept thinking I was going to come around the corner and see a plane, but I didn’t, because there wasn’t much left,” Gebhart said.<\/p>\n

Chehalis police were taking initial photographs and interviewing witnesses from the scene, as well as some who had been driving on the freeway. A representative with the Federal Aviation Administration is expected in the morning.<\/p>\n

Numerous individuals from the neighborhood gathered on the sidewalk and street trying to get a glimpse of the goings on behind the chain-link fenced lot where it happened, belonging to the relatively new auto body business Chehalis Collision Center.<\/p>\n

Wendy Cline who has lived on the corner for most of her life with a view of the small airport said she could only recall one time when a plane crashed.<\/p>\n

“It ran off the end of the runway, I think,” Cline said. “It’s sad, it’s so sad.”<\/p>\n

Gebhart said it was perhaps 10 years ago, when a Navy plane that came to give rides to the public crashed as it landed, because its landing gear wouldn’t come down. But nobody died, he said.<\/p>\n

He couldn’t recall a fatal crash at the small but busy airport during his 27 years with the fire department, he said.<\/p>\n

\"2014.0826.planefire.amanda.moore\"<\/a>

Firefighters and aid arrive to the scene of small plane crash in Chehalis. \/ Courtesy photo by Amanda Moore<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

\"2014.0826.fieryplanecrash.6747\"<\/a>

Firefighters continue to put water and foam on two trucks and what’s left of a small airplane in the parking lot of Chehalis Collision Center. <\/p>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated at 9:34 p.m. By Sharyn L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS \u2013 A small plane crashed this evening into a parking lot across Interstate 5 from the Chehalis Airport, killing its pilot. It struck two pickup trucks which caught fire, sending a column of black smoke into the sky at the scene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-27066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27066"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27069,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27066\/revisions\/27069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}