VINYL TARP, SPACE HEATER AND DOG KENNEL DON’T MIX
• Rural Chehalis residents trying to keep their dog warm with a space heater in an attached garage luckily woke up and smelled smoke before a big fire broke out overnight, according to Lewis County Fire District 6. Firefighters were called about 12:30 a.m. to the home on the 800 block of Lucas Creek Road where the garage had filled with smoke from a vinyl tarp draped over the dog’s kennel and a car, Fire Chief Bud Goodwillie said. The tarp burned, the chief said. “What they didn’t realize was as the vinyl got hot, it melted and dropped onto the space heater,” Goodwillie said. One of the residents had opened the garage door, thrown snow on the burning tarp and shut off the breaker, he said. The garage sustained smoke damage and the dog apparently was alright except for a little burn, he said. It was eight degrees outside, and the residents waited inside cars while the fire department finished its work, according to Goodwillie.
STABBING MYSTERY IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police called to the emergency room yesterday morning spoke to a patient with a stab wound to his abdomen who refused to tell police how it happened, where it happened or who did it, according to the Centralia Police Department. The injury was a one and half inch wound but was not life-threatening, police Sgt. Carl Buster said today. The man, a Centralia resident in his 20s, got to Providence Centralia Hospital somehow without calling an ambulance, Buster said. An officer took a report for informational purposes.
CREDIT CARD FRAUD
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s office reported this morning they are investigating the fraudulent use of a Chehalis woman’s credit card. A deputy spoke with the 69-year-old resident of the 1000 block of Centralia-Alpha Road on Monday and learned $468 was charged in connection with an online purchase with Verizon Wireless, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.
DAMAGE AT FOX THEATER
• A window was broken out of the Fox Theater on the 100 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia sometime before 8:50 p.m. last night, according to the Centralia Police Department.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter