Bulletin Column Dec. 22

Wood chips catch fire in trailer

Colfax fire crews Dec. 14 responded at 11:58 a.m. to a report of a chip truck fire along Highway 26 across from Les Schwab Tires. Volunteers used the city’s ladder truck to extend to the side of the trailer and allow firefighters to direct water down on the burning load. The truck driver noticed smoke coming out of the trailer as he descended Buck Canyon grade on Highway 195 and turned onto Highway 26 and parked along the highway. The truck tractor was disconnected and parked in the Les Schwab lot. The chips, which were being hauled to Lewiston, were believed to have started by spontaneous combustion.

These reports are from the previous four issues of the Daily Bulletin in Colfax. They are reprinted here for the benefit of Gazette readers who reside outside of Colfax. Some accounts have been updated.

COLD SHOP FIRE BATTLE

Volunteer fire crews early Sunday morning fought a shop fire along Highway 195 just south of the Rosalia rest stop. The fire was reported by a passing motorist who saw fire coming out of the structure. The shop was located at the late Ed Holmes ranch. Rosalia Chief Bill Tensfeld said the outside temperature was about 10 degrees when crews received the alarm at about 2 a.m. Crews alternated duty at the scene to allow firefighters to warm up in the trucks between duty stints.

Crews worked from the Thornton Road side of the fire and from the shoulder of Highway 195.

Deputies assisted with traffic control.

The shop was destroyed by the fire. Its concrete block walls remained standing, but the roof structure was collapsed. Also lost were tools which were in the structure.

Tensfeld said the cause of the fire has not been determined. He said firefighters were on the scene until 6 a.m. when they went back to the station. At 7:30 a mop-up crew was dispatched to the scene, and they worked at the site for another five hours.

Crews assisted from Tekoa, Oakesdale, Garfield, Palouse, Steptoe, Colfax and Albion.

STATE SHUTS DOWN 195

Washington State Patrol at 6:35 a.m. Tuesday announced a shutdown of Highway 195 between Pullman and the Idaho state line. The report from the district office reported multiple collisions due to extremely slick highway conditions as the result of freezing rain. The highway was fully blocked two miles south of Pullman.

The report said Idaho troopers and Department of Transportation crews blocked the entry ramp off Idaho Highway 95 and onto Highway 195 south of Uniontown.

The highway was reopened at 8:45 a.m.

CITY ADDS $199,626 TO 2016 BUDGET

During its final session of 2016, Colfax City Council Monday night approved a $199,626 addition to the year’s budget. The increases were in the city’s general fund budget which covers the city’s primary operations. The addition bumps the general fund budget from the $1,255,289 figure which was originally adopted for the year to $1,454,915, an increase of close to 16 percent.

City Finance Director Chris Mathis said cost overruns in the police department totaled approximately $30,000 for the year with a lot of that going to pay part-time officers who worked shifts while city officers were undergoing training. The fire department also had extra pay costs for employees to fill in the duty shifts.

Mathis said another cost increase was marked by the city court operation which had a higher-than-anticipated load of cases for the year. This led to more costs for public defenders, prosecutors and judge salaries. This amounted to $58,000, which is passed through funds that do not actually impact city funds but have to be shown in the budget.

Mayor Todd Vanek said a lot of the large bump on the budget was the result of lack of good information a year ago when the city council went through the budgeting process for the 2016 year. He said he believes the city has made improvements in getting information for a more accurate 2017 budget.

The addition of $199,626 to the total 2016 budget bumps the city’s budget bottom line for 2016 to $3,690,877. That puts the 2016 budget approximately $35,000 over the city budget total approved for 2017 at the previous council session.

Mathis said $20,000 in unanticipated tax revenue and city reserves of approximately $60,000 will be used to cover the budget increase.

CHASE

SUSPECT HAD AK-47

A Feb. 13 trial date was set Friday in superior court for Larry E. Fry III, 18, Nespelem, after he pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and obstructing justice. The charges were filed Dec. 13. Fry was arrested early Dec. 9 after he attempted to run from officers in the area of the Rosauers parking lot.

The firearm charge alleges Fry was found to be in possession of an AK-47 pistol which was found in his backpack.

According to the police report, the episode started when a motorist reported to police he had transported a male driver and female passenger from the scene of a one-car accident on Highway 195 south of Colfax to the Rosauers lot in Colfax. The motorist reported the female appeared to have a head wound. He said the driver of the car was adamant that he intended to walk to Coulee City.

City police and State Patrol Sgt. Courtney Swalley located the female, who did have a fresh head wound, attempting to order food at Taco Time. It said Fry then walked out of the rest room at Taco Time and, after being questioned by officers, burst out the south door of Taco Time.

The report said Fry was chased by Sgt. Shawley who caught him at the south end of the Rosauers lot.

It said after Fry was arrested he told officers he believed he would be headed for jail because he had the AK-47 in his backpack which had been left at Taco Time.

The illegal possession charge against Fry alleges he had previously been convicted of a felony, indecent liberties by forcible compulsion.

Fry remains in jail after his bond for pre-trial release was set at $5,000.

THREE INJURY ACCIDENTS

Chad S. Blanford, Cheney, was injured Monday morning in an accident on Highway 195 south of Rosalia. According to the Washington State Patrol report, a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado being driven northbound by Brad L. Bruhn, Walla Walla, went out of control on snow and ice and fishtailed. The back of the Silverado hit the 2002 Chevrolet K2 pickup being driven in the southbound lane by Blanford. The collision was just north of mile marker 61.

Sarah E. Rico, Pullman, was injured in a one-car accident Sunday 10 miles southwest of Pullman on Highway 194. She was in a 2005 Toyota Prius which was being driven eastbound by Deivy C. Rico Carrillo. The Prius slid on compact snow and ice on the highway, crossed the highway, came back across and rolled into the eastbound ditch.

Angela Halstead, Lewiston, was injured Sunday when the 2006 Dodge Caravan she was driving on Highway 195 went out of control 6.15 miles north of Colton in blowing snow conditions at 5:19 p.m. The Caravan went off the right side of the roadway, hit a guardrail, went down the highway embankment and struck a tree.

Cody Holland, Spokane, was unhurt last Thursday, Dec. 15, when he lost control of the 1998 Subaru Legacy he was driving on Highway 27 6.72 miles north of Garfield. According to the WSP report, he was driving southbound at 11:07 a.m. when the Legacy went out of control on compact snow and ice, slid off the southbound side of the highway and rolled on its top.

UI NEPALI

STUDENT DIES IN COLLISION

A semi truck and car collision on Highway 195 at the south end of Cashup Flat early Thursday morning took the life of Mamta Kandel, 21, University of Idaho student who was one of four people riding in a 2004 Toyota Corolla which collided with a 2002 Peterbilt semi tanker truck. The driver of the Corolla and two other passengers were injured and transported by Rosalia and Colfax ambulances to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane.

The driver of the semi-truck and three people who were in a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck which was also hit by the semi were uninjured.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, Bikash Sigdel, 24, Moscow, was driving the Corolla northbound at 3:06 a.m. when he lost control of the car and it swerved across the highway into the path of a southbound 2002 Peterbilt tractor-trailer tanker truck which was being driven by James Smith, 54, Hayden, Idaho. He was uninjured.

After hitting the Corolla, the semi then went across the highway and struck a 2013 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck which had been parked along the northbound shoulder.

Taken to Sacred Heart were Sigdel and two male passengers in the Corolla, Basu Kafle, 29, and Sumit Shahi, 21, also both of Moscow.

The driver of the Toyota pickup was Kayli Lynch, 21, Artesia, N.M. Passengers in the pickup who also escaped injury were Abilene Gallegos, 22, Pullman, and Adriana Alire, 23, Tatum, N.M.

The accident shut down Highway 195 for approximately eight hours. Northbound traffic was stopped at Steptoe. Highway 27 south from the Rosalia interchange was an alternate route.

Friday afternoon, Whitman County Coroner Peter Martin said Kandel died at the scene of massive neck, chest and back injuries.