Old Madras restaurant burns in ‘live fire’ training

A plume of thick, black smoke swirled into the sky in Madras on Saturday as new firefighter recruits got to tackle a real-life blaze that was set to destroy a former restaurant and store donated to the Jefferson County Fire District No. 1 for training.

Fire Chief Brian Huff said the “live fire” training took place at the former Mi Casa restaurant and store site.

The Oregon Department of Transportation owns the parcel and plans site cleanup soon, Huff said.

The burn was the final training event for six new firefighter recruits, he said.

A total of 23 firefighters, along with a Jefferson County EMS crew and some citizens supporting firefighter rehab, were on site, the fire chief added.