CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — The Central Point apartment fire broke out on the 50th block of south 9th street around three P.M. on Thursday. Tenants are still unable to return home while the fire is under investigation.
“It was like an inferno, it wouldn’t stop,” neighbor, Shaun Mooney, said.
Mooney lives right behind the apartment complex and had been pulling up to his house when the fire had started.
“The minute we drove down the driveway all of a sudden, the fire,” he said.
Fire crews hadn’t arrived on the scene yet and Mooney knew in order to protect his home and his neighbors, he had to do something.
“I grabbed the hose and I started doing the hose on the fence and then it was just like an inferno, I mean the flames were just like coming up,” Mooney said.
Since the fire was during the day, most of the residents were not home, except for one family.
“I smelt smoke but I thought one of our neighbors were burning something they weren’t supposed to,” Kaden Mohlow, resident of the apartment complex, said.
He had just left his apartment to get something from his car when he realized it wasn’t a neighbor burning something, it was his apartment that was on fire.
“I went out to my vehicle that’s over there and then I saw smoke coming out the back and so I rushed back over here,” Mohlow said. “I rushed back over here and my wife was in here and I told her to grab what you can and get out.”
Residents were able to call 911 quickly and fire crews arrived on the scene withing minutes.
“They made it here really quick and started taking care of it.”
The fire displaced 11 adults and seven children, including his wife and two kids.
“It hit my children pretty hard, they moved around a lot and they’ve stayed here the longest,” Mohlow said.
The American Red Cross stepped in to provide temporary shelter, food and clothing for the families but Mohlow isn’t sure what his next steps will be.
“I’m not really sure what were gonna do because my kids go to school here and my relatives aren’t in the Medford area.
Fire officials from Fire District 3 are not sure what caused the fire and said the investigation could take awhile.
In the meantime, the group that manages the apartment complex, CPM real estate services, is putting together a relief page for the displaced families. https://www.facebook.com/FireRelief450South9thSt/
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