Lebanon Fire District personnel battled a pair of unrelated noninjury blazes Wednesday, Jan. 4, each separated by roughly 19 hours.
Crews responded to the first incident shortly before 4 a.m., arriving at a single-story residence in the 400 block of West D St., where heavy smoke was reported.
Both of the home’s unidentified occupants managed to escape the blaze; one was assessed for smoke inhalation, but declined a hospital transport. They were assisted by a neighbor before getting help from the Red Cross.
Due to rapidly changing conditions from the structure’s excessive fire load, incident command upgraded the incident to a second alarm, receiving assistance from the Sweet Home Fire & Ambulance District, Brownsville Fire District and Albany Fire Department.
These combined efforts contained the blaze by 5 a.m., but crews remained on scene for another two hours for mop-up operations. Investigators traced the fire’s source to an overloaded power strip.
Lebanon crews were hailed a second time that day at around 10:45 p.m., reporting to an apartment fire in the 40 block of Market St., where smoke and flames could be seen from a second-story window. After an aggressive initial attack, firefighters extinguished the blaze within 15 minutes, but remained on scene through the evening for overhaul operations and fire watch.
The LFD reported that the apartment was unoccupied at the time of the fire, which was contained to that unit. Its cause also remains under investigation.
No injuries were reported in either incident.