Fire District No. 2 firefighters worked through the night Sunday to extinguish a fire in a Dixonville home. Fire District No. 2 was assisted by the City of Roseburg Fire Department and Glide Rural Fire Protection District. The call for assistance was received at 11:37 P.M. and the first fire engine arrived 11 minutes after the call was received. Firefighters remained on scene Monday morning finishing up the difficult task of extinguishing all smoldering and hidden embers.
The home was located at 5213 Buckhorn Rd. and was owned by Bjorn Vian. The home is occupied by Rob Morris who rents the home. Mr. Morris had built a fire in the fire box and later heard crackling in the wall. Mr. Morris investigated to find smoke in the crawl space, then called 911 and got everyone out of the house. The Morris’s will be staying in a R.V. on the property.
The home was constructed utilizing “Balloon Frame Construction” which was common at the time the home was built. This type of construction utilizes wood framing members with open spaces that allow fire to spread from the ground floor to the attic. Modern building practices require the use of fire blocking and stops at each level of the home, which limits the spread of fire. The fire appeared to start around the exterior chimney then rapidly spread to the second floor of the home and the attic. The roof was covered with asphalt shingles that had been placed on top of wood shingles. The wood shingles burned underneath the outer layer of roofing requiring firefighters to remove a large portion of all the roofing material to extinguish the fire.
According to Douglas County Assessors records, the home was built in 1938 and was valued at
$ 131,000. The home suffered an estimated $90,000 damage to the structure and $ 30,000 damage to contents. Firefighters were able to save many of the homes contents utilizing protective tarps to prevent water damage. The cause of the fire is believed to be associated with the exterior chimney and the clearance to structural wood framing.
A total of 15 firefighters responded to the fire with four fire engines, three water tenders, and two command staff.