PULLMAN — Seventeen people were taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation after fire ripped through Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house at Washington State University early Sunday morning.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Two of the injured persons also had minor burns, said nursing supervisor Jodi Chamberlain at Pullman Memorial Hospital. Fifteen people were treated and released, and one was admitted and released later on Sunday.
A 21-year-old male student was admitted for observation and was in good condition Sunday night.
Everyone was sleeping when the fire broke out about 5:30 a.m. at the Greek Row house near the WSU campus, KHQ-TV in Spokane reported. All those inside escaped safely, although one student had to jump out a window.
The fall session begins Monday at Washington State University.
Arctic Rose door was open: The Coast Guard team investigating the sinking of the Arctic Rose gathered more clues from a remote-controlled camera during a second expedition over the weekend to the Bering Sea site where the vessel went down. Despite rough seas that caused problems for operators of the video camera, investigators could see portions of the ship not seen during the last effort, including an open water-tight door between the deck and the fish processing area. The 92-foot Arctic Rose sank suddenly April 2, 775 miles southwest of Anchorage. All 15 men on board were killed. It was the worst U.S. commercial fishing disaster in 50 years.
Boy arrested in slaying: A 15-year-old boy fled with a handgun after shooting his aunt and a man in Graham on Sunday, killing the man and critically injuring the aunt, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies said. Officers surrounded a mobile home where the boy was hiding, about a mile from the shooting scene in the town 10 miles southeast of Tacoma, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. After several hours, the boy surrendered. Troyer said the boy gave himself up about 5:25 p.m. following about 30 minutes of dialogue with a negotiator.
Reconnected, and it feels so good: Qwest restored phone service Sunday to 275 south Bellevue residents and businesses that had been without phone service since Wednesday’s heavy rains, a company spokesman said. As many as 1,300 customers had been without phone service since an underground cable was punctured by a work crew and soaked by rain, said Qwest spokesman Michael Dunne. A Bellevue city crew was moving utility lines when it hit an underground cable vault Wednesday, Dunne said.
Fires running out of steam: Wildfires that once threatened hundreds of Eastern Washington homes and the tourist town of Leavenworth were starting to wind down Sunday. Firefighters, aided by rainy weather last week, were gaining ground against the blazes. Many have been contained over the past few days, and crews are predicting full containment within the week for most of the others. Temperatures in the 80s and light winds were forecast for the next few days on the east side, said National Weather Service meteorologist Lyle Hammer in Spokane. Winds could pick up slightly Monday on the east slopes of the Cascades, and temperatures were expected to cool slightly starting Tuesday, he said.
Timber recovery can continue: Environmental groups failed to stop the retrieval of 1.2 million board feet of felled timber in the Colville and Idaho Panhandle national forests after loggers illegally cut about 10 trees while moving the wood. The Lands Council, Ecology Center and the Kootenai Environmental Alliance filed an emergency motion Thursday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to bar the timber removal. The appellate court denied the motion on Friday, saying a district court could best determine the issue.
From Herald news services
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