Firefighters responded to a Canby house fire, ignited by a Christmas tree, with a report of a child trapped on Dec. 16.
At 3:22 p.m., Canby Fire was dispatched to a residential house fire located at 7171 S Barnards Rd, in rural Canby. Initial information indicated that there was a fire inside the home with a child that was unaccounted for, possibly entrapped.
Upon arrival firefighters were greeted with frantic family members, still unsure of the where-abouts of their daughter. Firefighters conducted a 360-degree outside evaluation and noted most of the windows in the 1900's era farm home were blacked by smoke, however, there was no visible fire, nor any smoke pushing from any doors, windows, or openings.
When firefighters entered the home, they encountered unsual conditions. The home was full of thick black smoke, but very little heat.
Firefighters initiated their primary search, when their radios interrupted them with emergency traffic that the girl was accounted for outside of the home.
Firefighters completed their search activities and transitioned into the fire confinement phase.They found no fire because it had burned itself out of oxygen before firefighters arrived, The fire had self extinguished.
Fire investigators determined that the area of origin was the Christmas Tree, and that the mini-lights had been left on during the time of the fire.
The estimated damages from this fire are $150,000.00.