Firefighters across Cowlitz County had a busy weekend battling several brush and vehicle fires, though no injuries were reported. It was such a hectic weekend that Cowlitz 2 Battalion Chief James Graham quipped that a freshly-minted lieutenant at the agency got more than he bargained for on his training day Sunday.
“The lieutenant yesterday got his money’s worth,” Graham said Monday. “He got all kinds of things to do.”
On Sunday morning, Cowlitz 2 firefighters responded to a passenger car fire in the 100 block of Parker Place in Kelso. Crews were dispatched at 8:03, arrived at 8:09 and had the fire knocked down within a few minutes, Graham said.
The cause of that fire remains under investigation.
Later that same evening, Cowlitz 2 firefighters were called to a large brush fire in the 300 block of Olson Road in Longview. A 911 caller reported flames reaching 40 feet into the air. While firefighters were on their way, dispatchers informed them that the fire had reached a triple-wide manufactured home.