Fire Destroys Senior Apartments in Fort Rock

A seniors apartment building in the small community of Fort Rock burned to the ground in a fast-moving fire late Friday afternoon, but all the residents evacuated safely, officials said.

The Rock View Apartments had seven units and a common room for card-playing and other gatherings, said Christmas Valley Fire Chief John Trauth.

Fort Rock, about 70 miles southeast of Bend, is outside any fire district, so firefighters from Silver Lake and Christmas Valley, the latter more than 30 miles to the south, respond by mutual aid to fires or other incidents in that area or northern Lake County, Trauth explained.

?When something like this happens, everybody goes,? he said.

Silver Lake was the first fire department to arrive on scene. ?When we (Christmas Valley) got there, it was fully involved,? Trauth said Saturday. ?It went pretty fast.?

Walker Range Fire of Crescent also responded with a water tender, laying out fire hose and helping put out the blaze, Trauth said.

In addition, there was community support, as Dinsdale Farms employees Dave Kunes and Scott Duffner shuttled water with their truck, he said.

While all of the residents were evacuated safely and without injury, some were taken to Bend as a precautionary measure, as they had lost their medications along with all of their belongings, the fire chief said. The Red Cross also stepped in to assist the seniors, Trauth added.

A loss figure for the single-story apartments was not immediately available, nor was the cause of the blaze, Trauth said, adding that they were built only about six years ago. He said investigators will be on scene Monday to examine the ruins and look for what started the fire.