Empty Centralia house goes up in flames

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Members of the police department joined firefighters in north Centralia this afternoon to begin investigating after a vacant house went up in flames.

Riverside Fire Authority was called around 4:15 to the corner of Logan and Vienna streets for reports of a fully involved structure fire, according to Fire Chief Jim Walkowski.

“It’s reportedly abandoned, it’s had drug activity in the past,” Walkowski said.

At 5:30 p.m. crews were still putting water on the one and a half-story wood-frame home.

Walkowski said they were trying to confirm there was nobody inside. They had various reports, including of someone walking away, he said.

Several neighborhood residents, including young people watched from across the street at the playground of the old Logan School.

Eleven-year-old Ashley Taylor said she, her sister and a friend were at home next door when they smelled smoke.

“And next, the whole front was puking fire,” Ashley said.

Robin Taylor, 15, said they heard “bursting” and glass breaking.

“It was the biggest fire I’ve ever seen,” she said.

The girls said a family with several children used to live there, and sometimes the grown ups come back.

Walkowski said two firefighters were treated at the scene for heat exhaustion. Riverside was joined by departments from Chehalis, rural Chehalis and the Rochester area.

The front of the house was charred. The blaze extended to a detached garage in back, according to Walkowski.

An adjacent home sustained minor radiant heat damage, according to the chief.

Update: Investigators determined there was nobody inside the structure. Walkowski said the residents had moved out about two months ago.
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CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the two firefighters suffered heat exhaustion, not smoke exhaustion.

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