A fire that broke out in the early morning hours Saturday on the back porch of a North 18th Street home in Philomath was extinguished in time before spreading to the house, Philomath Fire and Rescue reported.
Firefighters responded to a report of a structure fire at 3:08 am May 4 to a residence in the 300 block of North 18th Street. Deputy Fire Chief Rich Saalsaa said that upon arrival, crews discovered that the home’s occupants had taken action to extinguish it.
“The occupants were smoking meat in a metal bucket with charcoal that they started the previous afternoon and left unattended,” Saalsaa said. “They were alerted by smoke detectors in the house and called 911 once they saw flames out the back door.”
Saalsaa said they used fire extinguishers to help stop the spread of fire and then used a garden hose provided by a neighbor to put it out.
“The location of the metal bucket was determined to be too close to combustible materials (wood floor and siding of the porch) which eventually caught fire after prolonged exposure to heat,” Saalsaa said. “The fire was contained to the interior and exterior porch – and had started to travel to the main house on the exterior before being extinguished.”
Fire crews used a fan to remove smoke from the residence and inspected the area where the fire occurred to make sure there was no further danger.
The Philomath Fire and Rescue response included an engine crew of four and two personnel in the roles of duty officer and chief officer/incident commander. Firefighters from Corvallis and Monroe had been initially dispatched but were canceled when the fire was found to be extinguished.
