La Pine home’s wood shake roof fire stopped fast — again

Same thing happened there in 2012; fire chief urges replacing such roofs

La PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) — La Pine firefighters quickly doused a fire on a wood shake roof on Wednesday, at the same home where they stopped a similar roof fire nearly eight years ago, an official said.

Firefighters were called around 10:20 a.m. to a reported wood shake roof fire at a home in the 2500 block of Patken Circle, Fire Chief Mike Supkis said.

The fire was started by sparks from a wood stove chimney that ignited the dry wood cedar shakes that had pine needles covering them, he said.

Nine firefighters responded with an engine, tender and medic unit, also receiving assistance from Crescent Fire crews who sent another tender for water supply.

Supkis said the damage fortunately was limited to the roof covering (burnt wood cedar shakes). Crews were on scene for about an hour, he said, and no injuries were reported.

“The homeowner is extremely lucky — again,” Supkis said in a news release. “The exact same fire happened in May of 2012.”

“Wood shake roofs, although aesthetically pleasing and popular many decades ago, have been found not compatible with the Central Oregon climate, wildland urban interface and wildfire threats,” Supkis wrote.

“The La Pine Rural Fire Protection District strongly encourages any homeowner with a wood shake roof to replace it with a non-combustible Class A roof  — some of which can mimic the style of wood shakes,” the fire chief added