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.

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Douglas County Fire District No. 2 responded to a fatal two car motor vehicle accident Friday November 18, 2011.  The call was received at 1154 hrs. for a serious accident at 3620 Garden Valley Road at the intersection of Gypsy Lane and Garden Valley.  Fire District No. 2 responded with two paramedic engine companies, two advanced life support ambulances, and one incident commander.  The fire engines arrived within 5 minutes of receiving the alarm and the ambulance arrived 1 minute later.
 
Upon arrival paramedics found a smaller passenger car had been struck in the driver’s door by a large full size pickup.  It appeared that the driver of the passenger car was crossing Garden Valley Road at the time the accident occurred.  The driver of the passenger car was deceased when paramedics arrived.  The driver of the pickup truck was transported to Mercy Medical Center by Fire District No. 2 Paramedics.  

Note:   Law enforcement has temporarily blocked Garden Valley Road to complete an accident investigation.

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Cooking fires are one of the leading causes of fires in homes throughout the United States.  The Thanksgiving Holiday brings together families and also the traditional cooking of many turkeys with their trimmings and other succulent holiday dishes and deserts.  Douglas County Fire District No.2 Firefighters would like to provide the following cooking safety reminders:

Ovens and Ranges

• Always keep oven and stove tops clean.  Food residue and excess grease can catch fire.
• Keep pot and pan handles turned inward, away from the edge of the stove to prevent scald burns.
• Avoid wearing long loose sleeves that can hang over stove burners while cooking.
 Electric burner coils can reach temperatures high enough to ignite clothing even after the coil has been turned off. 
• Keep combustible materials (towels, dish rags, etc.) away from stove burners and avoid clutter in your cooking area.
• Never leave food unattended on top of your stove.  Turn the burners off or set a timer if you need to leave the room.
• Heat cooking oil slowly and never leave unattended.  Turn off the burner if it begins to smoke.

Douglas County Fire District No. 2 recently completed an evaluation conducted by the Insurance Services Office (ISO).  ISO is an independent organization that serves insurance companies, fire departments, insurance regulators, and others by providing information about risk.  Fire Departments are rated on a scale from 1-10 with 1 being the best score possible and 10 being the worst. The evaluation will determine if home owners and business insurance rates for District members will increase or decrease in the future.  The evaluation is essentially an audit of the fire districts capabilities to respond and extinguish fires.  The District was scored in three different areas including: Water supply, engine companies, and fire alarms.  The District was last evaluated in 2001.

Fifty percent of the Districts total score is a result of the number of fire engine companies the District staffs and the amount of water necessary to combat fires.  ISO evaluated records of fire engine pump tests, hose tests and hydrant tests.  ISO also evaluated the type and extent of training personnel receive along with records of the number of people participating in the training.  ISO also evaluated emergency response records to determine the number of firefighters that responded to fires. 
Forty percent of the Districts total score is based on the community water supply capabilities.  ISO evaluated whether the District has sufficient water supplies for fire suppression in addition to normal daily consumption.  ISO evaluated all components of the system including pumps, storage and filtration capabilities.  ISO also evaluated the number and location of fire hydrants and flow tested several hydrants in various location of the District.