Passers-by alert SW Redmond residents to house fire

(Update: Adding comments from passers-by, homeowner)

An ember from the chimney apparently sparked a roof and attic fire at a southwest Redmond home Monday night, but passers-by alerted the homeowners and occupants got out with no injuries reported, officials said.

The owners of the home in the 2900 block of Southwest 41st Street were alerted by the passer-by of the fire around 8:30 p.m. and they called Deschutes County 911 dispatchers, said Redmond Fire Marshal Traci Cooper.

The residents then tried to put out the blaze with a garden hose.

Arriving crews found fire and smoke coming from the attic of a two-story home with a cedar shake roof, the fire marshal said. They quickly knocked down the fire after an exterior attack to the roof and inside through the second-story ceiling.

Amanda Blank told NewsChannel 21 she spotted the fire and she and boyfriend Colby Gilleland drove up the hill to get closer, finding the home’s roof on fire.

Gilleland said he saw one of the homeowners in his yard, and ran to alert him.

“He looked up and saw it, and he ran this way and I went the other way, and I just went in their house and was, like, ‘Hey your house is on fire!'” Gilleland said.

Blank said that “Colby ran into the house to let the others know,” and all three of the occupants got out safely, along with their two dogs.

One of the homeowners, Maureen Richardson, said she was actually relieved to see it was only her house on fire. She had been watching the news on the Las Vegas shootings, and had that fresh on her mind when both Gilleland and her husband came running in.

“I honestly thought when my husband was screaming, ‘Get out of the house,’ that somebody was coming to shoot me, and I was so relieved that it was just the house on fire,” Richardson said.

After realizing what was going on, they all grabbed garden hoses and started spraying the roof.

Gilleland ran back inside and went upstairs to try to get out onto the roof, at which point the fire crews arrived.

Gilleland said he had a similar experience, and doesn’t want anyone else to have to go through the same ordeal.

“I always worry about it,” he said. “Our shop burned down about six months ago, and luckily a passer-by had told us it was on fire. So I kind of did the same thing.”

Cooper said fire crews were on scene for about three hours, completing salvage and overhaul operations.

Cooper said an ember from the chimney apparently landed on the shake roof, catching it on fire, and the blaze then burned through the roof, to the interior attic space.

Losses to the building and contents were estimated at $50,000.