FIRE DESTROYS GARAGE IN GALES CREEK

On Sunday evening two teenage boys in Gales Creek were inside the family home in the 54700 block of the NW Wilson River Highway when they noticed the lights in their room suddenly go dim. One of the boys went to investigate and looked out the window to find a fire burning in the detached garage about 20 feet away from their home. He yelled for his brother to call 9-1-1 and then immediately went out to try and get the family's pet chickens free from the coop that was attached to the backside of the garage. By this time the entire structure was burning and fire was coming out the open front of the carport style garage building.

Investigators spent Monday afternoon digging through the remains of the garage, trying to determine the cause of the Sunday evening fire.

Volunteer firefighters from Forest Grove Fire & Rescues nearby Gales Creek Fire Station responded, as did crews from the Forest Grove Station, and the neighboring Banks Fire District #13 Station but the fast moving fire destroyed the garage before the fire engines could get there. Even though the vinyl siding was melted, firefighters were able to keep the fire from damaging the structure of the family home; the fire also melted the front ends of two cars parked in the driveway and burned the exterior wall of a nearby shed that one of the brothers had used as a practice building for his band. All told approximately 20 firefighters worked for just over an hour to contain the fire to the garage and get it under control so that it would not spread to the other structures nearby. The Wilson River Highway was closed during the firefighting efforts so engines and water tenders could maneuver in the roadway safely.

The heat fromt he burning garage was so intense that it melted the vinyl siding of the home over 20 feet away

Fire Investigators from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue are still working to determine the cause of the fire, but the garage and it's contents are considered a total loss with estimates of damages approaching $40,000. No one was injured by the blaze, however the family did lose two of their pet chickens that perished in the fire.