Family away when fire breaks out
Just after midnight Monday, the Spokane Fire Department battled a blaze that broke out in a home on North Dakota Street. The family apparently was away for the holidays.
The initial call came in at 12:16 a.m. of smoke coming from 2022 N. Dakota St., Battalion Chief Bob Green said in a press release.
Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke coming from the front door and eaves of the 1 ½-story house. Other crews arrived and found flames blowing out through a small “dormer” window in the rear of the home, Green said.
As some of the crews searched the home, others attacked the fire. No one was home at the time, Green said.
Damage is estimated at $50,000.
Fire crews remained on scene with a fire investigator until 3:30 a.m. The cause of the blaze remains unknown.
Finley, Wash.
Boy struck, killed by Amtrak train
An Amtrak passenger train struck and killed a 17-year-old boy while he was trying to cross a railroad track in Finley.
Benton County sheriff’s deputies say the Portland-to-Chicago train struck Joshua S. Austin on Saturday night. He died at the scene. A 15-year-old boy crossing the tracks with him at a road crossing west of State Route 397 escaped injury.
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole says the train was carrying 180 passengers and was delayed for about three hours.
Amtrak officials and sheriff’s deputies are investigating, but Cole says there was no malfunction in the train or in the warning lights at the crossing.
Leavenworth, Wash.
Train stop in future for Icicle Station
This Bavarian-themed village in Central Washington will be a new Amtrak stop next year.
The project to add a passenger train stop on the route between Seattle and Chicago now has enough money to move forward after a nearly $300,000 congressional appropriation last week.
Leavenworth, about 20 miles west of Wenatchee on U.S. Highway 2, has raised more than $700,000 in local, state and federal funds to build the Icicle Station train stop, said City Councilman and Mayor-elect Rob Eaton, who has championed the project for at least five years.
Region
Holiday affects services, offices
The following offices and services in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas will be affected by today’s Christmas holiday:
•City, county and state offices are closed.
•There will be no garbage service today, and service will run one day late the rest of the week. Friday pickups will occur Saturday.
•Parking meters do not need to be plugged.
•Banks and post offices are closed.
•Most grocers are closed.
•State liquor stores are closed.
•Spokane Transit Authority buses will run on the holiday service schedule, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
•Spokane city libraries are closed today and Wednesday. Spokane County libraries and the Coeur d’Alene Public Library are closed today.
•Riverfront Park attractions, including the Ice Palace, Imax Theater, Spokane Falls Skyride and Carrousel, are open today.
Ashland, Ore.
Man dies, but gets Christmas cards out
Even in death, Chet Fitch is a card.
Fitch, known for his sense of humor, died in October at age 88 but gave his friends and family a start recently.
His Christmas cards, 34 of them, began arriving – written in his hand with a return address of “Heaven.”
The greeting read:
“I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards. At first he said no; but at my insistence he finally said, ‘Oh well, what the heaven, go ahead but don’t terry there.’ Wish I could tell you about things here but words cannot explain.
“Better get back as Big Guy said he stretched a point to let me in the first time, so I had better not press my luck. I’ll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think). Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Chet Fitch”
The mailing was a joke Fitch worked on for two decades with his barber, Patty Dean, 57.
She told the Ashland Daily Tidings this week that he kept updating the mailing list and giving her extra money when postal rates went up.
Boise
Sagebrush seed collection a record
Volunteers collected a record amount of sagebrush seed this year for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
The agency says about 1,000 volunteers collected more than 3,500 pounds of raw sagebrush seed, donating nearly 4,800 hours during 18 outings in southwest Idaho. The previous record of 2,300 pounds was collected in 1992.
The seed will be used to replant areas burned during large wildfires last summer.
Puyallup, Wash.
New theft target: catalytic converters
Police in Puyallup are warning about a new theft target of drug addicts – pollution-fighting catalytic converters.
In as little as a minute, a thief can slip under a motor vehicle and use a power tool to remove the converter to sell as scrap. Precious metals used in the device – platinum, palladium and rhodium – make each one worth $40 to $100 as scrap.
Tacoma police and Pierce County sheriff’s deputies say catalytic converter theft has not been much of a problem for them. However, Puyallup police Sgt. Bob Thompson says his agency has seen a handful of cases in the past two months.
Boise
Avalanche threat closes highway
Avalanche danger has again closed state Highway 21 between the Grandjean junction and Banner summit amid heavy snowfall on the steep slopes on both sides of the road connecting southwestern Idaho with Stanley.
The Idaho Transportation Department says those trying to reach Stanley should do so through Ketchum and Sun Valley.
From staff and wire reports