Kelly Kenoyer
Of The New Era
When Brandon Freeman heard someone scream “fire!” he leaped into action Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Freeman ran outside to grab a hose and rushed to where smoke was pouring from his home at 38th Avenue and Long Street. The back porch was already strongly ablaze at that point, and had started taking over the back wall of the house.
“By the time I got out there and started spraying it, there was just too much smoke and I couldn’t stand there, it was too big,” Freeman said. He was forced away, and ran back to the front of the house. By then, the kitchen was on fire and his father, in a wheelchair, was being pushed out of the home.
“They just barely got him out,” Freeman said.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District got the call at 1:54 p.m.
Fourteen firefighters responded to the conflagration, which took four hours to fully put out. There were no injuries to the human residents, but Brandon’s mother, Sandra Freeman, said several pets were lost in the fire: a dog named Taser, a bird named Blue, and three cats – Tatertot, Abby, and Kiwi. Two other dogs were able to escape the fire, she said.
Sandra Freeman also lost her 2015 Dodge Challenger.
“She was my baby,” she said. “The car is a total loss.”
A total of 10 people lived in the home that was destroyed in the fire, and the whole family is now staying at the Best Western in Lebanon, thanks to the help of the Red Cross, Freeman said. Insurance will cover the losses, including her car, Sandra said, but she’s just glad everyone made it out alive.
It was a close call for her disabled husband Larry, a veteran who served in 1969, she said.
“He’s more or less bedbound.”
Her “hero” daughter-in-law, Dawn Williams, managed to run into Larry’s room and pull him into a wheelchair to get him out of the house, she said.
“As she was getting him out of the bedroom, the fire was coming down the hallway towards them.”
Her daughter, Sierra Brading, also barely escaped with her life.
“Her room was on fire and she was sound asleep,” Freeman said. “Dawn had to bust in her room, grab her by the hair and pull her out, or we would have lost her too,” she said.
SHFAD Assistant Julie Mayfield said a report stated the fire started on the back porch of the home against a wall, and the probable cause is “human.”
“There was a couch back there and a table,” Mayfield said, “Factors contributing included a heat source too close to combustibles.”
The estimated loss on the property was “$250,000 and $100,000 for the contents,” she added.
Freeman said the family is still trying to figure out what to do next: whether to rebuild on their property, place a double-wide trailer there instead, or find a place to live further out in the countryside. “The house is beyond fixing,” she said.
Several of the family members lost their phones in the fire and have no way contact people or go on social media, but the community is organizing on Facebook groups to donate clothing and other items, as many in the family escaped with just the clothes on their backs.
Clothing donations are being accepted at Los Faroles Taqueria, said Debbie Bowen, a worker there.
“We posted on Facebook all their sizes and stuff. There’s one man who’s wheelchair bound who’s a 4XL,” she said. They also need men’s size L and XL shirts, as well as pants in sizes 30×32, 32×32, and 38×34. For shoes, the family needs women’s size 7 and 8 and men’s size 8 and 10. “There’s boxes out there where people can drop it off,” Bowen said.
Los Faroles Taqueria is located at 1502 Long St.