Blaze damages North Side triplex
Paul McRae used a garden hose to try to douse the flames roaring up the side of his rented triplex in north Spokane on Monday evening, but the blaze had already spread into the attic when Spokane firefighters arrived at the Atlantic Street address near Montgomery Avenue.
“It’s most probably arson,” McRae said while watching a fireman toss his soggy mattress onto the front lawn near pots of blooming perennials. “My son saw kids playing with lighter fluid and matches.”
Spokane Fire Department Lt. Greg Borg said it’s too soon for investigators to declare the fire arson.
“Just by deduction you can tell it’s not a natural one.”
He said the fire started near a wooden bench on a cement patio in back of the complex. The two upstairs apartments were heavily damaged because the crews had to pull down the ceilings, Borg said. Crews hadn’t yet determined if the basement apartment was habitable.
The Red Cross was expected to house one of the renters, Battalion Chief Steve Sabo said.
“I was just getting ready to sign my lease for another year,” McRae said.
Buyout of Shadow lease on agenda
Spokane City Council members today will consider an agreement that calls on the city to buy out five remaining years on the Spokane Shadow soccer team’s lease of Joe Albi Stadium at a cost to the city of $330,000.
The termination agreement comes after the Shadow canceled its season and subsequently lost its league franchise as a result of concerns over the safety of artificial turf at Albi.
The agreement is scheduled for consideration during the council’s 3:30 p.m. session in Council Chambers at City Hall. A budget transfer to pay for the settlement is set for a vote at the 6 p.m. session at the same location. Monday’s regular meeting is being held today because of the Memorial Day holiday.
The Spokane and Mead school districts have agreed to share in the estimated $1 million cost of turf replacement by September, but the installation is coming too late for the Shadow’s spring-summer season.
The Shadow buyout would compensate the soccer team owner – Red Card LLC – for its loss of business. The lease was to run through 2011.
Vancouver, Wash.
Volcano plume hits 16,000 feet
Mount St. Helens shot a steam and ash plume at least 16,000 feet into the air Monday after a large rockfall from the lava dome in the southwest Washington volcano’s crater, scientists said.
Pilots reported the plume rose between 16,000 and 20,000 feet in the air, said scientists at the Cascades Volcano Observatory here.
The rockfall coincided with a magnitude 3.1 earthquake shortly after 9 a.m. Monday at the mountain, scientists said, adding such events are expected during growth of the lava dome. “There is no evidence of an explosion associated with this event,” the observatory said in a statement.
Clouds obscured the crater at the time.
“We don’t know how much steam and how much ash,” said Cynthia Gardner, scientist in charge at the observatory. “These are very short-lived events.”
Lava has continued to push into the crater – most recently forming a sheer rock fin – since the 8,364-foot mountain reawakened with a drumfire of low-level seismic activity in September 2004.
The crater was formed by the May 18, 1980, eruption that killed 57 people and blasted about 1,300 feet off the then-9,677-foot peak.
Chehalis, Wash.
Ex-principal pleads guilty in sex case
A former elementary school principal has been jailed after pleading guilty to having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Dion A. Labadie, 36, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of third-degree child rape and one count of witness tampering before Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey.
Labadie was jailed after the hearing. County Prosecutor Jeremy Randolph said he will recommend a three-year prison term.
Labadie resigned at Olympic Elementary School in Chehalis in November, after he was found at 3 a.m. with the girl in his truck at a gas station in Napavine.
Police said he met the girl over the Internet, then in person in August.
Prosecutors alleged he and the girl began a sexual relationship in early November and had secret late-night meetings, including at his home when his wife and children were out of town.
Chehalis School District Superintendent Greg Kirsch said after Labadie’s arrest that he had received positive recommendations from previous districts, and a background check was clean.
– Staff and wire reports