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Fire takes all except memories Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Joyce Bell looks over the blackened, twisted metal that once was her father�s antique car collection. Bob Cameron�s cars and home were destroyed by a fire Monday evening that may have started because of a smoker�s carelessness. 83-year-old man loses everything to a smoker�s neglect By Jessica Smith Bad fortune struck Bob Cameron a second time at his rural Central Point home. A fire devoured the two-story house Monday evening just two years after Cameron was attacked in a home invasion robbery that left him feeling "lost, hurt, confused and angry." Now, the 83-year-old said he feels "like hell." "But it�s just one of those things, I guess," Cameron said Tuesday afternoon as he surveyed the unrecognizable remains of his home and belongings, including a 1917 Model T Ford that he often drove in area parades. "Some of these things are impossible to replace," said Cameron, who lives in Central Point with family but kept the Lane Creek Road home outside of town full of beloved items. "You can�t even replace the thoughts about these things." In June 1998, a man and woman broke into Cameron�s home and pistol-whipped him before robbing the place. David McDonald Heath and Neva Lynn Honeycutt were convicted on nearly a dozen robbery, burglary and assault charges and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. At the time of the trial, Cameron said the assault made him a "hateful person." Since then, he has suffered a mild stroke. "He�s just had the worst luck," said Cameron�s daughter, Joyce Bell, Central Point. "I think he�s in shock. He�s not really showing emotion or any impacts of the devastation." She said her father, whose health has continued to decline, visited the Lane Creek home for days at a time after he moved to town. Cameron was at the 1950s house Monday afternoon when a grass fire spread to the shed and swept through his 2-acre property, threatening nearby homes and wildlands with 25 spot fires. Cameron, who tried to suppress the flames while a neighbor called for help, received minor burns on his chest and lips. There were no other injuries. It took firefighters about five hours to control the blaze. Nearby homes were spared, but Cameron�s property is a total loss. Nothing remains, except charred and rusted metal from the 100 or so cars Cameron had collected over the years. "It�s hard to tell where the front door was," Bell said. "It doesn�t even seem like the same place." There were no estimates Tuesday on the value of Cameron�s property or the cars he kept there. Cameron carried no insurance on the property. Bell said the damages are likely in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars but that the monetary loss is not her family�s chief concern. "Right now we�re just dealing with the fact that we�ve lost memories and personal things," she said. Fire officials attributed the blaze to a smoker�s carelessness. A lit cigarette or a match may have been thrown into the dry grass, investigators said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA