March 01--A stray spark from a living room fireplace Friday night ignited a beanbag inside a family's home in north Medford and flames tore through the structure.
Nobody was injured in the fire, said Deputy Chief Justin Bates of the Medford Fire-Rescue department.
Bates said four department engines responded to a report of a structure fire at 7:24 p.m. and arrived 5 minutes later to extinguish the blaze in the 2000 block of Saint Thomas Way, a small cul-de-sac adjacent to Delta Waters Road.
"When they got here, the house was fully involved," Bates said. "There is pretty extensive damage throughout the entire house, but it will be able to be repaired."
Bates said about a dozen firefighters responded to the structure fire, which sent flames licking from beneath the roof eaves and poured black smoke into the night.
The family's pet lizard, rabbit and dog were also saved from the fire, Bates and neighbors said.
"They went to start a fire in the fireplace ... and they cracked the door open a little bit to try and get it going and a spark popped out of the stove and ignited a beanbag," Bates said.
Bates said an owner of the home tried to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher, but the flames were too large.
The owners of the home, who wished not to be interviewed, stored their pets and took shelter at next-door neighbor Denise Frazier's house while firefighters fought the flames.
"All the pets were OK," Frazier said, impressed with the response of firefighters.
Keith Brunkala, who lives across the street from the home, said one of his family members alerted him that the home across the street was on fire.
"I looked out and saw a bunch of fire all over the house," Brunkala said. "It was just a lot of fire."
Brunkala said he saw the father of the family who lives in the house break out a window and pull a rabbit cage from the home while it was on fire.
Once the flames were mostly extinguished, firefighters entered the home and brought out the lizard and a few other personal belongings of the family, he said.
Brunkala said firefighters immediately began spraying on the blaze when engines arrived on scene, and had the flames knocked down quickly.
Bates said firefighters were able to extinguish the fire quickly.
Most of the inferno was contained inside of the home, but flames licked out the front door and windows and blackened the home's siding.
Belongings inside the family's garage and cars parked in the driveway were not damaged by the fire.
By 8 p.m., firefighters were breaking down water hose lines behind their engines and preparing to leave while investigators assessed the fire's damage.
Copyright 2014 - Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.
