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Getting mom back home By Buffy Pollock Updated: Dec 30, 2022 05:49 PM A A 3 View all photos Ruth Harper, 80, lost her Central Point home to fire just before Christmas Ruth Harper feeds chickens with her granddaughter Leena Melson, 5, at her Central Point home. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] The fire damage inside Ruth Harper's Central Point home. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Ruth Harper, with her daughter and granddaughters, talks about the fire that destroyed her longtime home in Central Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Eighty-year-old Central Point resident Ruth Harper was wrapping gifts for her extended family just before Christmas at her Truax Road home when she smelled smoke. For several long minutes, the underside of her late 1990s mobile home burned and melted while she tried to find the source of the stench. She called her daughter, Sara Harper, who sent her partner, Colton Melson, to have a look. “We checked everywhere, and we couldn’t find anything wrong until he went outside and went around the house. He looked under the house and said call the fire department, it’s bad!” said Ruth. Within minutes, flames came from beneath the home, catching some dining room furniture on fire and filling the house with thick smoke. Fire District 3 responded to the property down the long dirt driveway near Gibbon Road, hauling burning pieces of furniture out the front door of the mobile to reach the flames and create vent holes in the floor. Upon learning her mother’s house was on fire, Sara Harper rushed to the property to see her mom — a spry octogenarian who still lives alone and tends to some two-dozen fowl — standing in a cloud of dark smoke, holding an oversized cage containing her parakeet, Olaf. “It’s a big ol’ cage. I was able to get it out onto the porch,” said the grandmother. Added the daughter, “I couldn’t even tell who it was standing there. It was so much smoke, just billowing out. I couldn’t see; I could barely breathe, but there was mom, holding her birdcage. The smoke was just so thick, you couldn’t even see the house from the driveway.” Mother and daughter visited the property Friday — a few grandchildren in tow — to tend to Ruth Harper’s 17 hens, two ducks, two roosters and two geese. All have distinctive personalities and carefully chosen names like VooDoo, LaLa and Cream Puff. The front porch, built by Melson this summer, is all that remains usable of her home of four decades. It provided shelter for chickens from Friday’s relentless rain showers. The outer shell of the home still appeared intact, belying the damage inside, including melted clumps of materials below that once comprised her electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems. Fire officials suspect an electrical fire. Harper said some recent issues with mice could have resulted in chewed wiring under the home, resulting in the fire. While unsure of how to clean up the property, determine which of her belongings are salvageable and how to go about returning to her home of nearly a half-century, Harper was only certain that she still hopes to do so. She has raised six children on the property and hosted countless family dinners with her extended family, including 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. The house also has provided sanctuary for extended family, friends, neighbors and a host of farm animals over the years. Sara Harper said the family hopes to find someone to help guide the family in the recovery process. First things first: She hopes to have power disconnected from the burned home and restored so her mother can have the option of staying inside an RV. Second, they’ll need quotes for demolition work and help preparing a site for a new home to be placed. The daughter said volunteer help would be appreciated beyond measure. And even just advice on what to do and when. “We really just don’t even know where to begin,” said the daughter. “We’re two weeks in, and it’s so hard to figure out how to get things rolling.” Mother and daughter briefly debated what, if any, personal belongings could be salvaged. Ruth Harper was saddened to think about an apron collection, candy dispensers, high-quality yarn supplies and family keepsakes. Sara Harper scoffed at a contractor who recently tried to acquire part of the property in exchange for helping with cleanup. “It felt like he was trying to weasel her property from her,” said the daughter. “He told her, ‘If you want to split your property in half and give me half of it, I can probably help you out.’” “So she had no insurance at all for the fire,” Sara Harper said. “It’s sad because she’s the kind of person who is always helping other people, and she’ll do anything for her loved ones. We just have to help her figure this out. She really values her independence, and her privacy is very important to her.” She added, “We have to figure out how to get her back home.” To view a gofundme campaign set up for the family, go to https://tinyurl.com/2p94zcry Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.