Pictures From This Morning's House Fire in Pullman

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"Arson Not Suspected"

The Lewiston Morning Tribune is reporting that arson is not suspected in this morning's fires. That's a relief, the timing of this morning's fires and the arson fires set on Novemember 15th are eerily similar.

Fire Alert

KQQQ is reporting two fires this morning. The first was a barn at Alpine Animal Hospital and the latest a house on Lori Court. Please take a minute to scout your house and neighborhood.

Type rest of the post here

Correction from the Daily News

I received this e-mail from Steve McClure, managing editor of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, in response to the post Scotty made about the Hahn Rentals fire in Moscow last week:

Tom,
Just a quick note to clarify something on Palousitics. The Alford family owns Hahn Supply Inc. The sentence in the news story was a bit unclear.

Regards,
Steve

Duly noted, Steve. Thanks!

BREAKING NEWS: Pullman Fires Related To Fred Russell Case?

I just got word that KHQ 6 out of Spokane is reporting that one of the witnesses who testified against Fred Russell in his recent vehicular manslaughter trial in Kelso lived in either the 9-unit aprtment building or the duplex behind Dissmores that was destroyed by fire yesterday morning. It is being speculated that this witness was deliberately targeted and that the other fires set on Pioneer Hill and Pullman Honda were diversions.

It is not beyond the realm of possibility. Back in December 2001, a friend of Fred Russell's who had been drinking with him the night of the accident was charged with felony harassment, felony witness intimidation and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a police officer afer pressuring the bartender at My Office tavern who served Russell to lie. This person later pled guilty to witness tampering and some other unrelated charges forgery and extortion and received a sentence of 34 months in prison. Former Whitman County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ron Shirley called this man "a crime wave all by himself." The My Office bartender testified in Russell's trial last month.

I can find no story confirming this on the KHQ website, so this is still very tentative. Stay tuned for more details as they emerge.

UDPATE: Thanks to April, I watched the KHQ story here (it's titled "Displaced fire victims will stay at family restaurant.") KHQ DOES NOT actually make any connection between the fires and the Russell case. The reporter just points out the coincidence that Vinh Tran, owner of Old Peking Restuarant in Moscow testified at Russell's trial last month. Tran was involved in the 2001 accident where Russell killed three WSU students and injured several others. Tran rear-ended Russell's Chevy Blazer after it had struck the students' car. Tran is not the driver Russell's defense attorneys tried to blame for the accident. That was Robert Hart.

Pullman's Morning of Flames

If you have a story about today's fires in Pullman, please post in the comments below. I'm sure Scotty was in the thick of things. And it was April's car that was set on fire behind Pullman Honda.

Coverage from:

KLEW TV
Northwest Cable News
KREM
KHQ
KXLY
Seattle Times

And from today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Arson suspected in string of Pullman fires; Blazes destroy nine-unit apartment complex, duplex, detached garage and several vehicles

Police and fire officials say arson is suspected in five fires that occurred early this morning in Pullman.

"These are all suspicious, and I would consider them all related," said Mike Heston, operations officer with the Pullman Fire Department.

Fire crews first responded at 4:31 a.m. to a fire in the 500 block of Southeast Jackson Street, where a detached garage was engulfed in flames. The garage and the two cars that were inside it are considered a total loss, Fire Chief Pat Wilkins said.

While on Jackson Street, crews responded to another garage fire, which was contained to a cabinet and did little damage, Wilkins said.

At 5:13 a.m., crews were called to an apartment fire at 129 NW True St. The nine-unit complex was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, Heston said. Crews from Whitman County Rural Fire District 12, Colfax and Moscow arrived to help fight the fires. Pullman police officers provided security while firefighters doused the flames, which spread to a neighboring duplex at 133 NW True St., and ignited several vehicles.

A resident in the nine-unit complex was trapped inside the burning structure and "ran and bailed out" of a top-floor window, Heston said. The man landed on top of a 15-foot retaining wall. He suffered a singed airway due to the hot gasses and was covered in cuts from the glass. The man was in stable condition and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment, Wilkins said.

While at the True Street fires, crews were called to a fire on Mackenzie Street where a vehicle - located in a parking lot behind Pullman Honda - was engulfed in flames.Pullman Police Cmdr. Chris Tennant said he has received a report of a white male with brown hair wearing a red jacket "looking suspicious" in the area around the time of the vehicle fire.

"It's a pretty (vague) description," he said.

As of 9 a.m. today, crews were working to clean up the scenes and awaiting the arrival of investigators from the Washington Region 8 Arson Task Force who will help determine the cause of the fires. Heston said that since no evidence - such as gas cans - have been found at the fire scenes, he was reluctant to call the fires arson-caused.

"I'll let the investigators determine that," he said.

Heston said his crews also are prepared to fight more fires today, if necessary. The Pullman Fire Department has investigated arson in the past, but "nothing to this magnitude," he said.

BREAKING NEWS: Fires All Over Pullman

The phone started ringing early this morning with news from Lauri Sue Torkelson of four fires all over Pullman in the early morning hours. One of those fires was behind Pullman Honda on South Grand Ave. I just got off the phone with April Coggins, and she and Russ are fine, thank God. Their SUV was set on fire in their driveway, apparently by an arsonist as firefighters found a rag stuffed into the gas tank. I would speculate that the other three fires reported were set by the same person or persons.

According to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News website

Pullman fire crews are on the scene of an apartment house fire on True Street, the third fire reported early this morning.

According to initial reports, fire crews were dispatched to two garages on Pioneer Street that were reportedly burning about 4:30 a.m. today. A short time later, crews were dispatched to the apartment house fire near the intersection of True and Nye streets.

Fire crews from Pullman and Moscow remain on the scene.

I just heard on KQQQ that the apartment fire on True behind Dissmores destroyed 9 units and injured one person.

UPDATE: KQQQ is reporting that the Pullman Fire Department is officially calling this arson. All fires are out at the moment. A state arson investigation team is heading to town from Walla Walla. Pullman police are securing the scenes and WSU police are taking over patrolling the town. Evan Ellis just stated that firefighters from Whitman County Fire District 12 saved April and Russ's business by putting out the car fire quickly. Pullman police are high alert looking for suspicious activity.

WSU Gets Torched

Guess what has just been posted on the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's blog, The Torch:

Free Speech under Attack during Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week