Two fires destroyed a shop and a piece of heavy equipment on Friday and Sunday, then a third on Monday burned roughly a half acre and three pine trees Friday through Monday in the Sweet Home area.
Firefighters with the Oregon Department of Forestry and Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District responded to all three fires.
They responded to the Friday fire at 8:32 a.m. to 24300 West Brush Creek Road, where fire destroyed a 36-foot by 48-foot shop with an attached carport and an attached outbuilding with wood in it, said SHFAD Lt. Josh Bondesen.
A neighbor saw flames, reported the fire and alerted the property owner, Bondesen said. Firefighters immediately responded from Crawfordsville in two vehicles and started putting out the fire.
About 20 firefighters responded in eight pieces of apparatus, with assistance from Brownsville and Marcola fire departments.
Marcola placed its engine at the West Brush Creek draft site to fill four tenders, Bondesen said, and the firefighters had no issues getting water to the fire.
Fire officials were unable to determine a cause, Bondesen said, but they identified the general origin of the fire on the south side of the building.
The building was a total loss, Bondesen said, estimating damage at $30,000 for the structure and $50,000 for the contents.
The property is owned by Clyde and Candace Brown.
Early Sunday afternoon, firefighters responded to and extinguished an equipment fire at T2, Inc., 28689 Hwy. 20.
Battalion Chief Randy Whitfield said an alarm came in at 12:30 and firefighter arrived at 12:36. They were there for two hours.
He said a large commercial grinder caught fire and ignited a “substantial” pile of hog fuel nearby. The fire also damaged a John Deere excavator nearby.
Whitfield said Tuesday morning that the cause had not been determined and was “under investigation.” Damage figures had not been determined, he said.
Monday, firefighters responded to a grass fire at Holley Church, 40346 Hwy. 228, at 12:11 p.m.
ODF Sweet Home Unit Forest Protection Supervisor Chad Calderwood said it burned approximately half an acre of church property.
It was a legal burn, he said. “The wind came up, and it started flashing through the grass and the briars.”
It climbed three pine trees, Calderwood said.
Two of them were burned nearly to the top, Bondesen said.
A local logger felled the trees, Calderwood said.
Responding were 11 firefighters in seven pieces of apparatus.
The weather’s “catching people off guard,” Calderwood said. “It’s dry. We’re actually showing moderate fire danger right now.”
Southwest Oregon will enter fire season on June 1, and the Douglas Forest Protective Association will enter fire season soon after that, Calderwood said. Locally, “we’re going to be looking at the weather forecast and making a determination later.”