A coordinated effort between three fire agencies and more than thirty firefighters worked into the early morning hours to extinguish a structure fire in a Roseburg business Tuesday night. Douglas County Fire District No. 2 received the call for a building fire at 1930 S.E. Stephens Street in Roseburg at 10:38 P.M. Personnel remained on the scene until 03:00 Wednesday morning. Roseburg City Fire Department also responded to the fire through an automatic and mutual aid agreement. Winston Dillard Fire District also responded with one fire engine.
The first arriving fire unit was a Roseburg City Battalion Chief who reported a large commercial building with a working fire in the rear of the building. Roseburg Police shut down S.E. Stephens Street to allow fire units to gain access to the building and to connect fire hoses to hydrants near the building. The railroad tracks behind the building also were shut down due to personnel accessing the building from the end of Mill Street. Firefighter access was restricted to the rear of the building due to overhead power lines that were damaged and arcing. Pacific Power and Avista Utilities responded to the scene to disconnect the building utilities.
Battalion Chief Barry Hutchings stated that the coordinated effort to extinguish the fire was a result of years of working and training together, “We had five fire engines, a ladder truck, and more than 30 people from three agencies operating under a coordinated operational plan, with officers from the City and Fire District No. 2 leading the effort”. Off duty fire fighters from the City of Roseburg and Fire District No. 2 were also called to the scene to assist.
The cause of the fire is under investigation with members of the Douglas County Fire investigation team on scene Wednesday morning. The fire cause has not be determined at this time.
The building was a total loss as a result of the fire and was valued at $81,000 per Douglas County tax records. No estimate is available regarding contents destroyed in the fire.
The building is owned by Annette Lehman from Tennessee and was occupied by Charles Jones who runs a business called 3rd Hand Resale.