Snoqualmie Valley Record, November 30, 2011

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VALLEY RECORD SNOQUALMIE

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2011 â– DAILY UPDATES AT WWW.VALLEYRECORD.COM â– 75 CENTS

Dozens displaced by holiday blaze

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Fast-moving apartment fire is Valley’s worst in 12 years BY SETH TRUSCOTT

SPORTS

Valley Record Staff

Oars ahead: Valley teen rows at major Boston regatta Page 7

Photo courtesy Snoqualmie Fire Department

Firefighters battle a wind-fueled blaze that gutted units at the Mount Si Court Apartments on Thanksgiving in North Bend. Onlookers described bursts of flame shooting out of the building. One neighbor and a sheriff’s deputy were injured.

War wounds

It was the speed of the fire that surprised. Investigators say a smoking accident was the cause of the conflagration that forced out more than 20 people at the Mount Si Court Apartments in

North Bend on Thanksgiving night, leaving several units foul, blackened shells, others smoke-damaged and without electricity. But firefighters say it was the night’s wind gusts that heightened the blaze, which killed two pets, caused a neighbor to suffer a cardiac arrest and required a quick-responding King County Sheriff ’s Deputy to be treated for smoke inhalation. SEE BLAZE, 3

One VOICE starts first holiday season

Valley soldier, 2007 grad, alive but injured after Afghanistan attack BY CAROL LADWIG

Robots obey students at Mount Si High, Opstad schools Page 6

INDEX OPINION 4 5 LETTERS 6 SCHOOLS 8-10 HOLIDAYS 11 SCENE ON THE SCANNER 12 13-14 CLASSIFIEDS

Vol. 98, No. 27

Always one to push himself, Orion Orellana was ready for any challenge. That habit drove his mother crazy, especially when he enlisted in the Air Force right out of Mount Si High School, and progressed from one demanding program to another. It also likely saved his life earlier this month, when he was attacked in Afghanistan while on a patrol with his unit of the ORION ORELLANA Air Force Special Operations Command. Although he was severely injured when a rocket-propelled grenade shot inside his armored vehicle through a gun port and exploded, Orion was able to respond to the situation, call for backup, and direct one of his companions to put a tourniquet on his ravaged left leg. He decided then that he was going to live, he later told his mom, but in language more forceful than should be reproduced on the page. Carla Orellana laughed as she recalled that conversation with her son, but tears were always close at hand as she told the Record by phone what happened, and what would happen next. SEE SOLDIER, 5

Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo

One VOICE’s Heidi Dukich, left, Stacey Cepeda and Paul Tredway sort through a mound of holiday donations.

Building community Group helps make daily life better for families BY CAROL LADWIG Staff Reporter

Struggling families in the Upper Valley will have some choices this holiday season. They won’t be the tough ones, like paying the utility bill vs. buying new boots for the kids, either. Instead,

they may have to pick between blue or black boots, or decide what kind of holiday treats their families will enjoy. SEE VOICE, 2

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SCHOOLS

Staff Reporter

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