The Vancouver fire and police departments responded to the school around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, after learning a student brought a vial labeled as a strain of the Escherichia coli bacterium to school.

According to the county's emergency services dispatch log, the student brought a vial identified as the HB101 strain of E. coli, a harmless strain used for laboratory experiments.

Test results were not available Friday, said Don Strick, spokesman with Clark County Public Health, which sent the sample to the Washington State Department of Health for testing.

Most strains of E. coli, including HB101, are harmless, said Steve Sylvester, assistant professor of molecular biosciences at Washington State University Vancouver. But the name "E. coli" raises eyebrows because of the 0157:H7 strain, which causes intestinal damage.

Because of the uncertainty, police and firefighters handled the call as if the substance were hazardous, said police spokeswoman Kim Kapp. The student brought the sample in to show his science teacher, Kapp said.

Amboy man killed in crash

Edward Freimuth, 41, was killed early Friday in a one-car crash along state Highway 503, about five miles north of Battle Ground.

Freimuth, an Amboy resident, had been driving a 1994 Saturn station wagon south about 3:50 a.m. Friday. For an unknown reason, he swerved left across the road and hit a tree, according to a Washington State Patrol report. The crash is under investigation.

Fire damages condos

A fire early Thursday caused $70,000 in damage and forced two families out of their condominiums in the Cascade Crest complex in Vancouver's Bagley Downs neighborhood.

The fire started in the wood structure behind a fireplace, where heat had built up from an earlier fireplace fire, said Capt. Rick Steele with the Vancouver Fire Department. The fire then spread to the attic.

Resident Donnie Vongthongthip awoke to the sound of a smoke detector alarm and alerted his brother, Det. They escaped unharmed from the upstairs condominium, at 5413 N.E. 34th St.

The fire department responded at 1:53 a.m. Eighteen firefighters took around one hour to get the fire under control, stopping it just as it spread into the attic.

"We were a couple minutes away from having a very serious fire," Steele said.

The fire caused $50,000 worth of damage to the upstairs unit. Water damage also forced downstairs neighbors Larry and Melody Whalen out of their condominium and caused $20,000 worth of damage.

Justin Carinci covers crime and law enforcement and can be reached at 360-737-4006 or

justin.carinci@columbian.com

John Branton

can be reached at 360-759-8012 or

john.branton@columbian.com