Fire destroys city garbage trailer
A load of garbage caught fire Saturday afternoon, destroying a 50-foot trailer from a city of Spokane waste semitruck, Spokane County Fire District 10 reported.
The load was discovered to be ablaze about 3 p.m., before it entered the Waste-to-Energy Plant, said District 10 Chief Nick Scharff.
Fire crews doused the trailer with water and foam just outside the back entrance to the plant.
A Spokane International Airport fire truck came to the scene briefly and showered the smoldering garbage with more foam.
The cab of the truck was unhitched and saved from the fire.
Scharff said cause of the fire is unknown.
Crash cuts power to 2,700 customers
About 2,700 Avista customers lost power Saturday evening when a car crashed into a pole north of Whitworth College.
The crash occurred about 6:30 p.m. at Mill Road and Bellwood Drive, said Robyn Dunlap, Avista spokeswoman.
Electricity was restored to about 900 customers around 8 p.m., Dunlap said. Avista expected power to the rest of those affected to be back on by 11 p.m.
Victims of Idaho plane crash identified
Investigators have released the names of the men who died Friday morning in a plane crash near Coolin, Idaho.
The pilot and owner of the plane was Matthew Giles, 32, of Vernonia, Ore., Bonner County Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Drake said in a press release. The passenger was Gary Harkims, 39, of Columbia City, Ore.
The men departed from Scappoose, Ore., earlier in the morning and were scheduled to arrive at the Cavanaugh Bay Airport, an Idaho Department of Lands airstrip on the southeastern side of Priest Lake.
They were planning to meet one of the men’s family members who were vacationing in the area, Drake said in an interview Friday afternoon.
The plane crashed about 100 yards from the southern end of the airstrip, Drake said in the press release.
The cause is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Reward offered in assault case
A cash reward is being offered for a man accused in the assault of an elderly woman.
William Scott Racicot, 39, went to a residence on East Kiernan Avenue about 1:30 p.m. July 25 to collect a debt, police said. At the home, Racicot first struck a man who told him that the person he was looking for was not there, investigators said. Witnesses told officers that Racicot then attacked the woman when she yelled at him to stop hitting the man.
Racicot is accused of hitting and pushing her. She suffered a broken hip and elbow in the attack, police said.
Racicot is 5-foot-7 and 300 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
He may be driving a 2001 white Chevrolet pickup with Washington license plate number A17375N.
Anyone with information on Racicot’s whereabouts can contact Secret Witness at 327-5111. Callers do not have to give their names to be eligible for the reward.