Wildfire near Cashmere forces U.S. 2 closure

CASHMERE – Smoke from a brush fire near Cashmere prompted authorities to close about 41/2 miles of U.S. 2 on Thursday afternoon and residents of about 20 nearby homes were briefly advised to leave.

No structures were burned and no injuries were reported.

A traffic detour was available, the state Department of Transportation said.

The Nahahum fire was burning on about 80 acres north of Cashmere

Evacuation notices were briefly issued for about 20 homes in the Hay Canyon and Nahahum Canyon areas, but no structures were currently threatened.

Associated Press

Hood Canal: Illnesses linked to raw oysters

The state Health Department warned residents to avoid eating uncooked oysters harvested from local waters, including the Hood Canal, after dozens of Washington residents reported becoming ill from consuming raw oysters.

Since July 10, nearly four dozen Washington residents have become ill after eating raw oysters contaminated with a naturally occurring bacteria, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, found in seawater.

Two people were hospitalized as a result of their illness, but there have been no deaths.

As a result of these illnesses, three growing areas in Hood Canal as well as Totten and Eld inlets in South Puget Sound have been closed to commercial harvest of oysters for raw consumption, according to the Health Department.

Notification of shellfishing closures can be found at ww4.doh.wa.gov/gis/mogifs/ biotoxin.htm.

Kitsap Sun

La Center: Six-year-old killed while riding ATV

A 6-year-old boy was killed Wednesday in an accident while riding a four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle in the View area east of La Center.

Paramedics and sheriff’s deputies were called to the scene about 5:45 p.m., said Sgt. Craig Hogman with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Hogman said the boy, who received the four-wheeler as a birthday present about a month ago, had snuck out to ride it.

His parents found him behind their home and tried CPR, but the child was pronounced dead at the scene, Hogman said.

Hogman said it appeared that the four-wheeler reared over backwards, pinning the boy underneath it, and that he probably suffocated.

The Columbian

Bellingham: 3-year-old drowns in backyard pool

A young Bellingham girl drowned Tuesday in the backyard pool at a relative’s home, according to Bellingham police.

Three-year-old Dannikah Granberg-Kiddle was found Tuesday evening at the bottom of the pool she and others had been playing in during the day, according to police.

Family and police officers checked the house in the 2000 block of Huron Street, the yard, neighboring houses and a nearby park.

The pool was cloudy, preventing people from seeing the bottom of the deep end, according to police.

A family member dove in and found Dannikah there, according to police.

The Bellingham Herald

Colville: Murder charge sought against woman

More than a year and a half after the dehydration death of a 7-year-old foster child, a judge is being asked to allow a second-degree murder charge against the foster mother.

Carole Ann DeLeon, 51, a former paralegal with the U.S. attorney’s office in Spokane, was charged in April with criminal mistreatment of an 8-year-old foster child identified only as S.M.M.

Now, Stevens County Prosecutor John G. “Jerry” Wetle is seeking permission to add the murder charge involving Tyler DeLeon, who weighed 28 pounds at his autopsy after he died of dehydration at DeLeon’s home on Jan. 13, 2005 – his seventh birthday. A hearing is scheduled Tuesday.

According to court filings by Wetle, DeLeon withheld food and water from both boys at her rural home in the southern part of the county.

In the case of the boy who died, “deliberate cruelty was manifested,” Wetle wrote.

The older boy has recovered and is developing normally in a second home, according to court records.

Associated Press

Spokane: Sewage spill at least 53,000 gallons

A sewage spill in the Spokane River was at least 53,000 gallons, and the total could be much higher, city officials have informed the state Ecology Department.

The spill ended June 11 after workers cleared a blockage that had forced raw sewage flowing through an 8-inch pipe into a 24-inch storm overflow conduit that empties into the river.

The estimate, contained in a letter from city’s wastewater treatment chief Dale Arnold to the state agency, was based on a three-day period, reflecting the time between when a fishermen said he saw raw sewage in the river and when the blockage was cleared.

“The actual time frame of this spill is unknown,” Arnold wrote.

A number of witnesses have reported seeing what looked like sewage debris in the river as far back as May.

Sewage spills into the river are not unusual. Last year the city recorded nearly a dozen spills totaling 140,000 gallons of raw sewage, records show.

Associated Press

Idaho: Fires burning in two national forests

The first major timber fires of Idaho’s summer season were burning Thursday in the rugged mountains of the Sawtooth and Payette national forests, as assessments of wildfire potential rose into the “very high” to “extreme” range across the region.

In the Sawtooth forest in the Idaho Rockies, more helicopters, air tankers and ground crews were called in Thursday to help on the Trailhead Fire, which had burned at least 250 acres of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine 25 miles northeast of Lowman.

In the Payette National Forest, two heavy air tankers, four single-engine air tankers and a helicopter were trying Thursday to douse the Quartz Creek Fire, which had burned 100 acres of timber about six miles from the Salmon Mountains village of Yellow Pine.

No property was threatened, but the fire’s “running crown” – where balls of fire race through the tops of trees – and flame heights up to 50 feet prompted forest officials to request a larger firefighting team to take over management from local crews.

Associated Press