Couches, mattresses set on fire after Cougar win

Fresh off a critical 34-20 win over the 12th-ranked University of Oregon Ducks, Washington State University fans took the Saturday night celebration from Martin Stadium to the surrounding College Hill streets, where no couch – or any piece of furniture, for that matter – was safe.

The Pullman Police Department responded to six fires between about 8:30 p.m. Saturday and 12:45 a.m. Sunday, and Pullman firefighters were called into assist with five of them, according to the PPD daily activity log.

Another blaze, a cardboard fire on the 600 block of Northeast Ruby Street, was also extinguished before Pullman firefighters were required for assistance.

Pullman Fire Chief Mike Heston said the furniture fires involved a couch or a mattress, and one involved some kind of wooden piece of furniture. Almost all of them occurred in the street.

Pullman Police Officer Teayana Dillon, who allowed the Daily News to join her on her patrols for about four hours late Saturday night into early Sunday morning, said police tried to locate and remove unburned furniture sitting in the road before it was set on fire.

She said a couple pieces of unburned furniture were found on College Hill and removed Saturday night.

Heston said his staff scoured College Hill and planned to take photos of any couches sitting on porches during the week so if the couches were burned Saturday, fire investigators would be able to identify responsible parties.

He said his staff didn’t find any couches, so they must have been inside residences.

Dillon spent most of the night patrolling College Hill. She said on nights like Saturday, in which a Cougar football game has been played, she and other officers primarily circle Greek Row.

“It seems like every time I get far enough away from it, a fight breaks out or something happens,” she said.

When not on College Hill, downtown is another area of focus, Dillon said.

Countless groups of people wandered College Hill late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, stopping inside bars, Greek houses and house parties.

Dillon and a few other officers responded to an intoxicated man shortly after 12:15 a.m. outside Domino’s Pizza on Northeast Monroe Street.

The man was reportedly touching people repeatedly, and when police made contact with the man outside the restaurant, he appeared to be highly intoxicated and struggled to stand.

The man appeared to be confused on his whereabouts as well, claiming to be in a few Washington cities other than Pullman throughout his conversation with police.

During the conversation, bouncers at Stubblefields could be seen bringing a man to the ground outside the bar.

Some officers who were speaking with the man outside Domino’s quickly shifted their attention to the other man who was removed from Stubblefields.

He was arrested for suspicion of trespassing, while the man police first confronted at Domino’s was taken home by friends.

As expected, noise complaints were a popular call officers responded to over the weekend. Eight were reported between 11:30 a.m. Saturday and 2:45 a.m. Sunday.

Dillon and other officers responded to a noise complaint shortly after 1 a.m. at a house party on the 1300 block of Northeast Harvey Road, where at least 100 people were reportedly present. Police warned those responsible.

Dillon said noise complaints are usually the most common call she responds to after a Saturday night WSU football game.

Dillion said minors in possession, assaults, traffic offenses and possible DUI calls are also very common on those nights.

From early Saturday morning to 6 a.m. Sunday, Pullman police responded to seven disorderly conduct calls, three reports of unconscious persons and two reports of intoxicated persons.

One DUI arrest was made and one rape was also reported Saturday night.

About 30 minutes after Dillon responded to the noise complaint, she was called to the northwest side of town, where a driver was reportedly driving fast with a loud exhaust and at least one blown-out tire. One man said the vehicle woke him up and he saw sparks coming off the vehicle’s rim.

Dillon followed scrape marks on multiple streets on Military Hill before she and other officers identified the vehicle parked on a sidewalk. The front left tire was popped and the left rear tire was completely gone.

The driver was not found as of early Sunday morning. Besides scrape marks on the street and damage to the car, it appeared the only other damage caused was to juniper bushes.