By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A Centralia man was hospitalized yesterday for smoke inhalation after a fire at his apartment on the 100 block of West First Street.
Firefighters called about 9:30 p.m. learned that neighbors alerted the resident, knocking on his door and waking him up, according to Riverside Fire Authority.
The fire affected an exterior wall; there was no damage to the interior of the ground floor unit but smoke got inside, according to Fire Capt. Scott Weinert.
The cause is still under investigation but it began in an area where the resident kept an ashtray and said he smoked, Weinert said.
Earlier in the day, firefighters were joined by crews from Chehalis and Rochester at Century Market on the 500 block of North Tower Avenue when a fire broke out.
Firefighters called about 1:30 p.m. quickly extinguished it, according to Weinert.
That blaze started outside the building and began to extend into a storeroom, Weinert said. Tower Avenue was closed for about an hour, according to police.
The cause is under investigation but one possibility may be discarded smoking materials, Weinert said.
Centralia firefighters were extremely busy yesterday, with 21 calls in the first 20 hours of their shift, the captain said.