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73 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, August 3, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 29, 2004 A firefighter drags a hose Wednesday afternoon around the front of this house on Fairmount Street in Medford. The home was a total loss. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Family of 3 escapes house fire By JACK MORAN Mail Tribune After making sure her daughter and baby grandson were unharmed, Cheryl Seibel looked into her burning home Wednesday afternoon and wondered if anything could be salvaged. "You don’t think of (possessions) at first," said Seibel, who watched from a neighbor’s yard as Medford firefighters investigated the blaze that destroyed much of the home at 335 Fairmount St. "I just wanted to make sure everybody was safe," she said. "Then I thought about finding the baby books. ... I think we’ve lost everything." Seibel called 9-1-1 just before noon Wednesday to report that her house was on fire, Battalion Chief Fred LaBrasseur of the Medford Fire Department said. Investigators suspect the blaze started in a clothes dryer, then spread. Sections of the single-story house that did not burn incurred heavy smoke damage, LaBrasseur said. Advertisement A total of 15 firefighters battled the blaze, which took about 20 minutes to control. "In this case, everything was destroyed," said Antone Hernandez, emergency services director for the Rogue Valley chapter of the American Red Cross. Hernandez went to the house within 30 minutes of being notified of the fire and provided Seibel and her family with clothing, food vouchers and a room at a local inn. "Our job is to give people an opportunity to collect their thoughts," Hernandez said. "We give them interim help and a chance to make a plan." Seibel, who had lived in the home for little more than a year, said she appreciated the assistance. "I’ve always donated stuff to the Red Cross, but I didn’t know all this help would be there for us," she said through tears. "I’m still trying to process it all." The fire burned through some dry grass behind the house, prompting neighbor Jean Morgan to grab a garden hose and spray water onto her roof and a dry section of vegetation separating the homes. "I came running over here and that thing was engulfed, shooting flames," Morgan said. "It was absolutely scary, and I’d rather not see another one again." Morgan said firefighters acted quickly to extinguish the blaze. LaBrasseur explained the effort was complicated when flames spread to the attic. Seibel and her 21-year-old daughter Heather Anderson were able to smile when recalling the excitement of grandson Hunter Pollard, 1, when he heard sirens and saw flashing lights coming down the road. "He liked the fire trucks," Seibel said while little Hunter sat nearby, wearing a diaper and sipping from a water bottle, apparently unaffected by the fire. Reach reporter Jack Moran at 776-4459, or e-mail [email protected] Clothes dryer fire prevention Medford fire officials won’t yet say for sure what started Wednesday’s house fire on Fairmount Street, but they think a thorough investigation will confirm their suspicions that it started inside a clothes dryer in the home. Battalion Chief Fred LaBrasseur of the Medford Fire Department said dryer fires are "fairly common" and spark in one of two ways. In most cases, they are started when lint accumulates in a lint trap, then overheats and starts to burn. Fire officials urge dryer owners to keep their lint traps clean to avoid such fires. Less commonly, fires are sparked when an electrical system in an older dryer short-circuits, LaBrasseur said. The dryer inside the home at 335 Fairmount St. was about 20 years old. 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