The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District responded to a report of a structure fire just before 6:30 p.m. on Friday, July 5.
According to a press release, the homeowner noticed an orange glow out of his window. After going outside to investigate, he found his shed fully engulfed in flames and spreading to nearby fir trees and towards multiple outbuildings on his property and the adjacent property.
Arriving within five minutes was a brush truck staffed by a seasonal grant from the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office. They found heavy fire consuming the shed and spreading rapidly to surrounding vegetation, trees and exposure buildings. Those exposure buildings included two homes, four small outbuildings and one storage trailer. All of those structures sustained fire damage. In total, two outbuildings and the storage trailer were completely destroyed, one of which contained a UTV.
The home to the south, which was on the same property where the fire originated, sustained significant fire damage to the exterior on one side as firefighters were unable to access it initially due to arcing power lines which had come down on the roof of that home as a result of the fire.
The fire continued burning through vegetation and spotting toward homes to the east, as well. Two engines, two ambulances, a ladder truck, a water tender, a brush truck and three command vehicles responded from SHFAD, with a total of 16 firefighters. Aiding in the firefight were two engines, one brush rig and one command vehicle with a total of seven firefighters from the Oregon Department of Forestry.
SHFAD was also assisted by multiple units from Sweet Home Police Department and a Linn County Sheriff’s deputy, who handled traffic control and crowd management. There were no injuries reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
