JACKSONVILLE, Ore. – A 3-alarm house fire yesterday morning left a Jacksonville home on 9th and D Street destroyed.
NBC5’s Natalie Sirna was on the scene and saw the firsthand devastation that this fire left behind.
Jacksonville Fire Chief Wayne Painter said, “About 1:30 this (Tuesday) morning we got a call in for a structure fire. When our crews arrived, there was a wood building that was pretty well involved already.”
Chief Painter says the fire affected multiple buildings on the property, but thankfully no one was hurt. Assisting the Jacksonville Fire Department were Medford Fire as well as Jackson County Fire District 3, using several engines and an aerial apparatus to put out the fire.
Nadine Chisholm is a neighbor who lives only a couple of houses away and she said that she had no idea that this tragedy was taking place while she was sleeping.
This is what we’ve discovered this morning, Dexter and I taking our little walk to check out the terrible fire we had in our neighborhood last night. It’s really close to home. And I’m glad it didn’t spark any other embers – probably no wind last night and the cooler air hopefully kept the smoke at bay and other people safe.
Chief Painter says there was no one in the initial building that caught fire and the family residing in the main house were safely evacuated. Surrounding neighbors were also encouraged to evacuate.
Chief Painter said the last major structure fire in Jacksonville was two years ago when the Mexican restaurant Las Palmas went up in flames.
“There were multiple buildings that were involved and damaged. That was due to the close proximity, how close they’re built together. And so that provided a big challenge for us because we’d have a lot of flame impingement on different buildings,” said Chief Painter.
At about 9:00am the State Fire Marshal arrived on scene to investigate, but Chief Painter says the complexity of the fire means it could be a while before a cause is determined.
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