Police

Search efforts have begun for a missing 84-year-old Lakewood man who was last seen Monday afternoon picking mushrooms in the Adams Fork Campground area of northern Skamania County within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Adams Fork Campground is approximately 15 miles northwest of Mt Adams.

The Skamania County Sheriff's Office received information at 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 20 that the gentleman had been missing since approximately 3:30 p.m. while picking mushrooms.

It is unknown if he has any known medical conditions at this time. Ground search teams and an aircraft with a FLIR (forward looking infrared radar) have been requested through the Washington State Department of Emergency Management.

The terrain in the area is fairly flat within the search area. Search efforts are being concentrated in an area of approximately one square mile.

FIRE PROTECTION

DISTRICT NO. 3

Structures immediately endangered by the Sept. 12 fire along State Route 141 near Brislawn Road included the homes located at 1470 NW Phillips Dr. and 201 Country Place Rd.

Additional exposures included the homes located at 1449 Phillips Dr., two homes located on Catalina Lane and, if the fire had continued to burn to the northeast, the homes on NW Childs Road and Cox Road.

This fire was located in an area that burned several years ago where the fire reached the Cox Road area before being controlled.

The Sept. 12 fire, reported to 9-1-1 at 1:38 p.m., was located in Fire Protection District No. 3 territory and was under the joint command of Fire Dist No. 3 chief Charles Virts and Steve Crow from the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Resources to fight the blaze began arriving on scene at 1:43.

Units from Fire Dist. No. 3, DNR, White Salmon, Bingen and the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area were dispatched to the scene. A helicopter and a dozer crew were also called to the scene, but fortunately they were not needed to bring the fire under control--an event authorities called at 2:56. By 5:18, fire crews had returned to their respective stations.

The fire started in dry grass along the northeast edge of the SR 141 near its intersection with Brislawn Road. A light wind was coming out of the west and helped move the fire to the northeast where a home was situated directly in front of the fire on Country Place Road and on the fire's right flank on Phillips Drive.

The first arriving fire apparatus was deployed to the right flank of the fire to protect the homes on Phillips Drive and to cut the fire off from its advance toward the home on Country Place Road. Other first arriving apparatus were sent up Country Place Road to attack the fire from the left flank and protect homes. These efforts were successful and the fire was cut off just 30 feet shy of the home at 201 Country Place Rd. A similar near-miss occurred at 1470 Phillips Dr., where the fire skirted by the home and its associated structures.

The fire cause is still under investigation.