Sweet Home Fire has again responded to multiple vehicle crashes in the same day. Of the 11 emergency calls we've received since 7 am today, 2 were crashes, 1 was a structure fire, and 1 involved the use of lifeflight to air lift a firefighter from the Tally Creek Fire who was suffering from chest pains.
The first crash of the day was called in just after 8 am. The crash occurred on Highway 20 near Greenville Rd, and involved 1 vehicle which left the roadway striking a shrub and a fence. The single occupant was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The incident, which was initially reported to be a vehicle that crashed into a home, brought 2 ambulances, a rescue unit, an engine, and a command vehicle with a total of 9 firefighters. OSP was also on scene.
The structure fire was reported at 838 am on Highway 20 in the Cascadia area. The caller reported that smoke was filling the home from an unknown source. The Incident Commander arrived to find a duplex, with one unit charged with smoke that was escaping from the eaves. The occupants had all evacuated and had shut off the power to the breaker panels. An engine company with 5 firefighters, a water tender with 2 firefighters, and an ambulance with 1 firefighter arrived on scene shortly after the IC. Crews entered the structure and searched for the fire using a thermal imaging camera, but could not find a heat source. A positive pressure fan was used to clear the smoke which led firefighters to the source. A basket of laundry was found smoldering in the home, it was determined to contain linseed oil soaked rags which were the source of the fire. Two pet cats were rescued from the smoke charged building. Civilians who were on scene attempting to put water on the home prior to our arrival, and no injuries were reported. The smoke was removed from the home and no damages were assessed.
At around 1130 a medic unit which was standing by at the Tally Creek Fire was activated for a firefighter on the line who was suffering from chest pains. The crew evaluated the patient and activated lifeflight for transport. The medic crew was assisted by contract firefighting crews and crews from ODF, who worked together to pack the patient down from the fireline to the ambulance. The patient was then transported to the landing zone at Green Peter Dam, and flown to a nearby hospital. At last report that patient was still being evaluated in the ER, but was stable.
The second crash of the day was reported just before 4 pm. The crash happened at the intersection of Highway 20 and Pleasant Valley Rd. The crash involved 2 full-sized pickup trucks which collided in a glancing head-on style crash causing front-end damage to both vehicles. Four occupants from one of the vehicles were evaluated for minor injuries but declined ambulance transport to the hospital. This crash brought 2 ambulances, 1 rescue, and an Incident Command vehicle to the scene. Sweet Home Police and ODOT provided traffic control, and an OSP trooper also responded.
Sweet Home Fire District has a busy day with technical rescues and a motorcycle wreck. Two patients were transported to local hospitals by Life Flight and a third by ambulance to another local hospital.
A Sweet Home Medic unit responded to approximately milepost 34 of Quartzville Rd. at approximately 1243, for a reported motorcycle wreck involving one male patient. The Medic crew arrived on scene and activated Life Flight due to the severity of the patients injuries. Life Flight landed at Sunnyside Park where the medic crew met them and transferred patient care. Sweet Home Fire was assisted on scene by Linn County deputies.
At approximately 1715 hours, a Sweet Home Medic unit was dispatched to the Upper Calapooia river for a male patient who had jumped off a rock and broke his leg. The medic crew arrived on scene to find the patient was a quarter mile down a trail and laying in the water. With assistance from Linn County deputies, Linn County SAR, and Lane County SAR the patient was packaged in a stokes and a rope system was utilized to lift the patient to the trail.
At 2059 hours Sweet Home Fire was dispatched to McDowell Creek Falls for a report of a female patient who had fallen and possibly broken her wrist and knee. Medics arrived on scene and hiked the trail finding the patient had fallen 75-80 off of a water fall. Due to the severity of this patients injuries the medic utilized Life Flight for the fastest transport to a local hospital. The patient was found in the water at the base of the waterfall. With assistance from Linn County deputies, Linn County SAR, and Lebanon Fire District, crews utilized rope systems, and a stokes basket to get the patient to the trail.
Sweet Home Fire would like to thank our partners from the Linn County Sheriff's Office, Life Flight, Lebanon Fire District, and Lane County SAR for their assistance. The teamwork used to safely and efficiently treat these patients was outstanding.
Sweet Home Fire units responded to a report of a structure fire spreading into the trees. The fire was discovered by the home owner just before 6:30pm. He noticed an orange glow out of his window. He went outside to investigate and found his storage shed fully involved spreading into a stand of fir trees and towards multiple outbuildings on his property as well as the adjacent property. The first fire unit on scene was a brush truck, staffed by a seasonal grant from the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office. It arrived 5 minutes after the 911 call was received, to find heavy fire consuming the shed and spreading rapidly to surrounding vegetation, trees, and exposure buildings. Those exposure buildings included two homes, 4 small outbuildings, and 1 storage trailer. All of those structures sustained fire damage. In total, 2 outbuildings and the storage trailer were completely destroyed, 1 of which contained a UTV. The home to the South which was on the same property where the fire originated, sustained significant fire damage to the exterior on one side as firefighters were unable to access it initially due to arcing power lines which had come down on the roof of that home as a result of the fire. The fire continued burning through vegetation and spotting toward homes to the East as well. Two engines, two ambulances, a ladder truck, a water tender, a brush truck, and three command vehicles responded from SHFAD, with a total of 16 firefighters. Aiding in the firefight were 2 engines, 1 brush rig, and 1 command vehicle with a total of 7 firefighters from the Oregon Department of Forestry. We were also assisted by multiple units from Sweet Home Police, and 1 Linn County Sheriff's Deputy, those units handled traffic control and crowd management. There were no injuries reported, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.