By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
It appears there’s a bad batch of heroin on the streets, which has been responsible for at least one death in recent days in Centralia.
A 25-year-old man brought to the fire station overnight was revived and taken to the hospital, and fire department leaders want to get the word out.
“The fire chief wants us to let people know that do heroin, the stuff that’s out there that may be ‘hot’, a little bit strong,” Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Tim Adolphsen said this morning.
Crews from the North Pearl Street station have dealt with three cases in the last four days, Adolphsen said. One person didn’t survive, he said.
A male called 911 about 1:30 a.m. today saying he was driving toward Centralia from Tenino, and that his passenger wasn’t breathing very well, was pretty much out of it, Centralia Police Department Officer John Panco said.
Medics waiting outside the station administered Nar-Can and took the patient to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to responders. The driver left before police arrived, Panco said.
So far this year, the Lewis County Coroner’s Office has two confirmed heroin overdose deaths, which is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris. Both individuals died in the Centralia area, she said, but they were not recent.
They do have the one new case in which the cause of death is not yet known, she said.
Fire departments in Chehalis, Rochester and Tenino said they aren’t aware of a specific current problem with heroin overdoses.
Tina Vanderhoof at Thurston County Fire District 12 which handles the Tenino area said this morning she has heard of issues going on “up north” but didn’t have further details.
On Saturday, a driver was found unconscious with a syringe in his hand after running into a fence and then the ditch in Chehalis, but it’s not clear yet what drug he may have been using, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
In Centralia, the fire department said further information about the issue should be obtained from the police department. Panco, a spokesperson for the police department, said he was only aware of the one case.
The Tenino man whose life was saved by Centralia firefighters was still alive this morning, and well enough that he was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Panco.
Panco said suspected heroin was found in his pocket, so Stephen C. Smith, 25, was arrested for possession.