Fire Destroys Jefferson Shop

The cause of the fire was determined to be from the burning weeds that were not completely extinguished and spread under the edge of the building.

Photo: Jefferson Fire District

(JEFFERSON, Ore. ) - The Jefferson Fire District was dispatched to a structure fire at 12988 Meadowood Court S.E. Jefferson, Oregon Tuesday afternoon.

Salem, Stayton, and Turner were also dispatched to assist with the call.

Upon arrival Incident Commander, Scott Shepherd stated that heavy black smoke was coming out of the roof and sides of the shop and flames were starting to show. There was another shop within a few feet of the structure that was being threatened by the fire. The shop was full of auto parts, tires, propane tanks and a compressor.

The property and shop is owned by Bill Gillham. His son Don Gillham was burning weeds around the outside edge of the shop. Don stated that when he was done he walked along the outside edge of the shop and not see any fire.

Approximately 20 minutes later, Don and Bill were in the building right next to the shop when Don spotted smoke coming out of the roof of the shop. They took two extinguishers and opened the door. All they could see was thick black smoke. They closed the door and called 911.

The fire was deemed under control at 3:11 p.m. The cause of the fire was determined to be from the weeds that were not completely extinguished and spread under the edge of the building.

The building and contents are a complete loss. The estimated damage of the contents is approximately $40,000 and the building is approximately $45,000. There was no exposure damage to the building right next to the shop.

There were no injuries. Wintercreek Road was partially blocked for approximately 3 hours, while crews cleaned up and put out hot spots.