Cause still sought for Old Madras Hotel fire

Oregon State Police, Madras police and the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office joined the hunt Monday for the cause of an early-Sunday fire that destroyed the century-old Old Madras Hotel and threatened nearby motel units that fire crews saved.

Tom Jaca, assistant fire chief for Jefferson County Fire District No. 1, put an estimate on the losses of $50,000, but said the probable point of fire origin in the three-story structure remained undetermined and the fire’s cause under investigation.

The fire was reported around 12:45 a.m. Sunday at the distinctive, vacant three-story building at 171 SW C Street, west of Third Street in the downtown area. Nearly two-dozen firefighters were called out, with many on scene for 10 hours.

The 18 adjacent motel units were evacuated as fire crews kept the flames from reaching them, and no injuries were reported.

Motel resident Jamie Embisk said later Sunday at a Red Cross shelter that she awoke to “people slamming on my door at about 1:30 in the morning saying, ‘Get out of your homes — there’s a fire going on!'”

“I didn’t grab anything at all,” Embisk said. “I thought when the fire department showed up, they were going to have everything taken care of. I didn’t realize the whole thing was going to burn.”

Fire crews called in mutual-aid assistance from the Crook County, Crooked River Ranch and Warm Springs fire agencies due to the lengthy battle. Crews kept pouring water on hot spots for hours to cool down the smoking pile of rubble and ash.

Residents of the motel forced to evacuate into the chilly night were taken to the Jefferson County Senior Center and the American Red Cross was called in to assist.

Motel residents are just thankful the crews saved their homes and nothing else was damaged.

“They worked really hard to save the people’s homes, so they actually have a place to go back to,” Embisk said

The building, with a distinctive stepped roofline, was built around 1913 about a half-mile southwest of its current location, along the Oregon Trunk Railroad Line, to serve railroad visitors, according to the Jefferson County Historical Society, which included it on a walking tour of historic Madras buildings last year.

It was called “The New Commercial Hotel,” as a 1916 silent film showed. Seven years later, after the railroad closed its route through Madras, the building was bought by local restaurateur and saloon-keeper Charles Hobson, who with one helper moved it cross-town to its current location along Fourth Street.

In the 1930s, new owner E.C. Weber, expecting tourism along Highway 97, added the motel units south of the main building. During World War II, it housed soldiers from the nearby Madras Army Airbase.

In recent years, a local couple had tried to bring the building back to life as a bed-and-breakfast, but the effort stalled, with structural problems such as defunct heating and questionable wiring, according to the historical society.

Residents in the area said the building had been boarded up for some time.

“On our visit to it on the walking tour, it looked like its interior was in pretty bad shape,” said Jarold Ramsey, historical society president.