Mullan teen suffers serious burns

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation to determine how a 16-year-old Mullan teenager suffered serious burns late Friday.

The teen was with two 18-year-olds when he suffered second- and third-degree burns to about 30 percent of his body.

An ambulance took him to Spokane’s Felts Field, where he was airlifted early Saturday to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said Sunday.

Deputies initially thought the three youths were fooling around with a bonfire they built on the outskirts of Mullan, Reynalds said.

“Now, we’re not so sure. We will probably send a detective to talk to him at Harborview,” Reynalds said.

Investigators believe both alcohol and gasoline were involved.

“The investigation is continuing,” Reynalds said.

Crews plan to salvage fishing boat today

Seattle The state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard are planning a salvage operation today to raise a 59-foot wooden fishing boat that sank off Shilshole Bay Marina.

The vessel went under while it was tied up to a buoy, where its owner, Jim Hicks, had brought the boat after it was ejected from a Lake Union marina because it wasn’t insured.

Hicks, 58, said he tied it to the buoy near Shilshole while he to tried to stop some leaks.

Hicks fell overboard Thursday when he was working on the boat and was rescued by the Coast Guard.

Doctors said his body temperatures dropped to 82 degrees and that he might have died if he had been in the water 15 minutes longer.

When he was released from Harborview Medical Center on Saturday, Hicks returned to the marina and found that his boat was totally submerged but still tied to the buoy.

The Coast Guard and Ecology hired Ballard Diving and Salvage to inspect the boat.

Booms have been placed around the area to try to contain and absorb any possible spill.

Coast Guard Spokesman Mike Zolzer said a small sheen could be seen on the water within the boom, but the spill had been contained.

The Coast Guard has created an account to pay for the operation.

“Unfortunately, taxpayers are going to have to pay for his lack of insurance,” said Sandy Howard, spokeswoman for the Department of Ecology.

Hicks said he bought the boat for $1,000 in December and had been living on it. He lost all his belongings, including his clothes, tools, wallet and car keys.

Once the boat is salvaged, Hicks said the Coast Guard will own it.

More from Idaho Guard heading to Colorado

Boise More Idaho Army National Guard soldiers from the 116th Brigade Combat Team will be shipped to Colorado for training this week before joining their fellow soldiers in Iraq.

The U.S. Army certified the 116th as “mission ready” before they were deployed in December, but personnel positions were left unfilled.

A group of about 12 soldiers from Idaho will fill some of those. The group will leave for Ft. Carson, Colo., Tuesday.

National Guard officials say similar troop movements are expected to take place over the coming months.

The soldiers will return with the rest of the brigade in 2006.

This latest mobilization increases the number of Idaho Army National Guardsmen taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom to more than 1,700. The number of 116th soldiers deployed from 20 states remains at about 4,300.

More than 2,500 Idaho National Guardsmen and Air National Guardsmen remain in the state to deal with emergencies like forest fires.