Fire on Cherry Street under investigation

The Aberdeen Fire Department responded to a burning home this morning in the 2100 block of Cherry Street.

Captain JR Streifel told KXRO that just after 3 am, a call came in from a Washington State Patrol employee on the home and firefighters responded to the blaze. 2 Hoquiam firefighters were called to assist. Crews were able to contain the fire from spreading outside the room and into the remainder of the house.

The fire was contained in less than 20 minutes after responders arrived, yet over 30% of the home was destroyed.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Anchor Bank showing a loss for the year

Anchor Bancorp, the holding company for Anchor Bank, reported a net loss of $812,000 for the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to a net loss of $314,000 for the same period last year. The company is showing a loss of $255,000 for the year compared to a loss of $1.7 million in 2012.

The parent company of Anchor Bank has locations throughout Grays Harbor including their local loan production office.

President Jerald Shaw said in a statement that as of June 30, the company owned 21 real estate properties with a book value of $6.2 million compared to 71 properties in 2012 valued at of $6.7 million, and 31 properties in March of this year valued at $7.0 million.

For more information, visit http://www.anchornetbank.com.

All burning prohibited on DNR land, including prescribed

Following a ban on recreational fires on Department of Natural Resource land, Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark has now banned all outdoor fires on DNR land, including prescribed burns.

Hot and dry conditions have made the potential for wildfire unusually high on both sides of the Cascades. Recent fires have placed increased demands on firefighters and residents from both regional and statewide firefighting efforts.

“Now is the time to be vigilant. It is everyone’s responsibility to be appropriately cautious during this season,” Goldmark said. “The risk of wildfire is unusually high and the consequences could be catastrophic. We have hundreds of firefighters fighting two major wildfires and numerous smaller fires in Washington State. Our resources are stretched thin.”

This ban is now in effect through September 30 and prohibits campfires in developed campgrounds and other recreational fires, as well as prescribed burns.

SR 520 pontoon repair costs announced

The Washington State Department of Transportation have announced the cost of repairing four pontoons from the first construction cycle and modifying another four from the second cycle for the new State Route 520 floating bridge.

The WSDOT acknowledged that it was a design error and not local workers that led to cracks in the first cycle of pontoons built in Aberdeen. At that time, WSDOT estimated repairs would cost tens of millions of dollars.

WSDOT will pay $48.8 million to complete the repairs on Cycle 1 pontoons. The addition of “transverse post-tensioning” to each of the 21 longitudinal pontoons constructed for the new floating bridge has been underway since June to help keep construction moving. In the first cycle, these pontoons were post-tensioned lengthwise only. For Cycles 2-6, each longitudinal pontoon will be post-tensioned fully within the Aberdeen casting basin.

WSDOT will also pay an additional $22.4 million for adding post-tensioning to four pontoons while they are in Aberdeen. The work was completed prior to float-out in April.

Both costs will be paid from the SR 520 risk reserve developed to address unforeseen project issues as part of the $2.7 billion program budget. With these charges paid, the current reserve is now $100 million.

Because of the delays, the new floating bridge is now estimated to open to traffic in late 2015 or early 2016.

Grays Harbor College broke ground on $41 million building

Grays Harbor College will see construction on campus over the next 2 years. On Tuesday, the groundbreaking for the new Gene Schermer Instructional Building marked the beginning of the expansion.

Grays Harbor College broke ground today on their new 41.5 million dollar building that will be the new home for their Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Art, and Nursing classes. Grays Harbor College President Ed Brewster talked about waiting for the capital budget to come out and waiting to see if their budget for the building would get cut.

The new building is named after Gene Schermer. Schermer is a former President of the college and only one of 4 within the last 60 years.

The building is set to be completed in the fall of 2015.

photo credit: Molly Bold

Car fire near Central Park Chevron

A car fire has dropped traffic to one lane on eastbound Highway 12 in Central Park. The right lane is closed while firefighters clear the area.

Grayland Open Amateur Freeride Nationals August 10th & 11th

The 2013 Grayland Open Amateur Freeride Nationals is set for August 10th and 11th in Grayland.

Organizers say that this is the top, and the only, jet ski surf competition in Washington. Event promoter, Dan Lindgren is expecting over 40 riders to be in Grayland competing for custom trophies and other prizes provided by sponsors.

The event runs from 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday the 10th and continues at 11 am on Sunday the 11th with the finals.

This event is free to the public.

Aberdeen students get Summer school opportunities

The Aberdeen School District is offering summer opportunities at all of its grade schools and at Miller Junior High School beginning on Monday, August 5.

At the elementary schools, the focus is on reading for a jump start to next year. Students will be using iPads in support of their learning. The groups will be small with the focus on individual needs.

At Miller Junior High School, teachers have ordered hands-on projects for students to increase their math and reading skills by exploring science, technology, engineering and math.

Also this summer, all freshmen and seniors at Aberdeen High School will return to school for three days Aug. 26-28 prior to the official start of school on September 4. Freshmen will receive orientation to the high school, training on technology used in the school and information on what is required over the next four years in order to graduate.

Summer School will run from 9 -11:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, Aug. 5-22. Lunch will be served at no cost.

Sign-up forms were sent home with students at the end of the school year and are also available on the district web site at http://www.asd5.org.

Contact Jim Sawin at (360) 538-2171 to learn more.

Woman dies at Lake Nahwatzel

The Mason County sheriff’s office says a 20-year-old Seattle woman drowned while swimming with friends at Lake Nahwatzel about 10 miles west of Shelton.

The sheriff’s office says Katiana A. Taylor was swimming to a buoy in about 120 feet from shore when friends noticed she was struggling.

The Olympian reports their rescue attempts were unsuccessful.

Boats with Fire District 12 and medics with Central Mason Fire searched for her. The Mason County Dive Rescue Team recovered the body in about 20 feet of water. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Volunteers clean up Point Grenville

Volunteers joined the Quinault Indian Nation over the weekend to clean up Point Grenville in preparation of approximately 100 canoes converging on Grays Harbor.

Over forty CoastSavers volunteers cleaned the beach south of the landing zone for the Paddle to Quinault canoes just days before they are scheduled to arrive from all sides of the coast.

CoastSavers partnered with the Quinault Indian Nation for the cleanup. Since the beach is usually closed to non-tribal members, the partnership allowed volunteers to access the approximately two mile stretch of beach.