Dishman Hills fire covers five acres

A five-acre brush fire in the Dishman Hills area was quickly contained Friday – the anniversary of last year’s Valley View fire.

No structures were threatened and no one was injured in Friday’s blaze, which erupted about 6 p.m. at Camp Caro, said Capt. Jeff Bordwell, a spokesman for the Spokane Valley Fire Department.

Spokane Valley firefighters and workers from the Department of Natural Resources planned to stay at the scene into the night to make sure the blaze did not flare up again, officials said.

“With the wind being pretty calm, we are doing quite well,” Bordwell said.

The fire’s cause was under investigation.

Jody Lawrence-Turner

State may have second wolf pack

A wolf pack capable of breeding may be roaming in Pend Oreille County, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday.

DNA tests announced Friday by the department confirmed a male gray wolf is roaming the same forested area where remote motion-activated cameras in May photographed two canines – a male and a lactating female – that appeared to be wolves.

Biologists at Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources are on the lookout for what could be the county’s first wolf pups in at least 70 years.

If a breeding pack is found, it would be the second confirmed, resident wolf pack in Washington.

A breeding pair of wolves was radio-collared last summer in western Okanogan County.

Meanwhile, Fish and Wildlife are investigating reports of wolf sightings in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington.

The gray wolf is a state endangered species in Washington. Gray wolves were killed off in Washington by the 1930s.

Rich Landers

Man, 24, arrested in OxyContin theft

Police arrested Tom E. Snell, a 24-year-old Spokane man, in connection with theft of a high-powered pain medication at a Rite Aid drugstore at 29th Avenue and Regal Street this week.

Snell was arrested and booked into the Spokane County Jail Friday morning on suspicion of first-degree robbery, the Spokane Police Department said in a news release.

Police believe Snell went into the Rite Aid about 10:30 a.m. Monday and showed a note demanding OxyContin and indicating he was armed, police say.

He fled in a dark blue Toyota pickup with flames on it.

Staff reports