Fire heavily damages Oxford transitional house
Firefighters responded shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday to a blaze at McMinnville's Oxford transitional house, 805 S.E. Villard St.
The fire displaced eight adults and three children, but there was only one resident home at the time, and it caused an estimated $300,000 damage, according to McMinnville Fire Chief Rich Leipfert.
The first responding units discovered heavy fire coming from the front of the home.
The southern exterior wall of the two-story home was destroyed, but the other sides of the structure sustained less damage.
Leipfert said that once the flames were mostly quelled, firefighters geared up to inspect high heat remaining in the attic of the home.
"I heard a popping sound and came out and saw the plume of smoke. I grabbed (a neighbor's) garden hose and wetted down the fences and put out some flames that had started in her cedar tree," said Katie Koenig, who lives on the Storey Street side of the block.
The blaze was in the wooded neighborhood bounded by Ford and Storey Streets, about six blocks east of the Linfield University campus.
The McMinnville Fire Department responded with five pieces of equipment and 21 firefighters. Units from Amity, Carlton, Dayton, Lafayette and Sheridan assisted.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but Deputy Fire Marshal Steve Candella said Wednesday morning that it appears to be accidental.
Comments
oldeee
I hear that the first response was some delayed? Any info on that?
carolsm
I was at the library (right across the street from FD) when this happened, and there were enough sirens, it seemed, to empty the entire firehouse and some of the police station. When I checked to see what was going on, it noted that there was a car fire at the same time in another part of town. If there was any delay, that might be a possible explanation.