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Fire rips through nursing home By Jeff Barnard Associated Press Writer GRANTS PASS - About 60 elderly residents of an assisted living center were left homeless Thursday after fire broke out before dawn in another senior apartment complex under construction next door. "I'm not concerned about it," said Margaret Holmes, 84, who was able to take only her purse and car keys after a firefighter banged on her door and told her to get out. "When they knock on your door and tell you it's on fire, you don't stop to think what to take." "She'll come home with me," said Holmes' niece, Betty White, as her aunt, still wearing her robe and slippers, finished a breakfast of pancakes and sausage brought in from McDonalds at River Valley Community Church. A Grants Pass Fire Department firefighter pours water on a fire at the Oakview Gardens senior apartments Thursday where 60 elderly residents were safely evacuated. AP The fire broke out in the three-story Jasmine Park senior apartments, which had a roof and walls, but no electricity, then leaped to the roof of the Oakview Gardens senior apartments next door, said Jes Webb, a spokesman for the Rural/Metro Fire Department. The building was fully in flames when firefighters were called at 6 a.m., said Webb. Fire investigator Curtis Pilcher said the cause was not known, but appeared suspicious. Jasmine Park was half-completed and valued at $2.5 million, Webb said. The building burned to the ground, and the fire burned through the roof on Oakview Gardens. Fire departments from at least four nearby communities came in to help pour water on the flames. Sallie Johnson, 75, was already up when she heard two explosions and saw ashes falling from the sky outside her window. When smoke began coming into her third-story apartment, she rolled her wheelchair to the balcony and called to firefighters below. "I called down to them. 'Help, help,' I said," Johnson said as she sat in her robe and slippers in her wheelchair at the church, surrounded by her daughter and grandchildren. "They said, 'Stay there, we'll come for you.' "They had to kick my door in. They kicked out the window. One of them said, 'I'm going to throw you over my shoulder.' I said, 'I don't think so.' "Those brave, wonderful firemen carried me down three flights of steps. The hallway was full of smoke. They covered my face with a towel. The sprinklers were going, water was on the floor, and smoke was everywhere." Johnson, who lost a leg 18 years ago in a golf cart accident in Ohio, said she had to leave behind everything, including her 3-year-old cockatiel, Baby. "I just thank my Lord I'm out," Johnson said. "It's without a doubt the most frightening thing I've ever gone through." Those who have no family in town will go to nursing homes and other senior apartments until they can return to Oakview, authorities said. Three people, including one police officer, were taken to the Three Rivers Community Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, Webb said. Their conditions are still being evaluated, said nursing supervisor Kitty Waud. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -