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'Your house is on fire' Robert Theis retrieves a water bucket that survived in spite of heavy fire damage to the garage and roof Monday morning at his Springbrook Road home. Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta Monday Oct 10, 2016 at 11:53 AM Oct 10, 2016 at 5:10 PM Ryan Pfeil Mail Tribune @RyanPfeil Robert Theis was sitting in front of his laptop Monday morning when an overhead light began to flicker. He didn't think much of it. Maybe it was time to change the bulb. Then he heard the firefighters at his door. "The dogs started barking, and I looked, and it was a fireman," Theis said. "I thought, 'Well, they're doing something. Smoke detectors or checking (them).' The next thing I know, he was in the garage hollering at me. 'Anybody in there? Anybody in there? Your house is on fire.'" That firefighter and other units from Medford Fire-Rescue arriving at the home, located at 2141 Springbrook Road, hadn't received a 911 call about the flames from a passerby. They'd been returning back to the station from another unrelated call when they spotted the fire. "This is a rare one for our guys to be driving by and have the structure called in, that they see the structure fire themselves," said fire investigator Ralph Sartain. Theis, who was the only one home at the time, made it out safely with his two dogs. Crews believe the blaze started somewhere on the home's exterior and made its way into the attic, though how it started is not yet known. Flames shot off the side of the house, devouring part of a tree as the fire grew. Neighbor Kacey Sparacio had just returned to her home after walking her daughter to school when she spotted the parked fire truck and firefighters pulling on their gear. "We came outside and saw that the house behind us was basically on fire on the whole left side," Sparacio said. "It moved extremely quickly from somewhere in the back to the actual house itself and then completely overtook that tree." Sparacio said she was concerned the flames would jump to another nearby house, but firefighters had the blaze under control within 15 minutes. Medford police closed Springbrook Road from Lone Pine Road to Roberts Road for just under an hour during firefighting efforts, Lt. Kerry Curtis said. Brookside Drive, which links Springbrook to nearby Cedar Links Drive, was also shut down during that time frame. The flames caused damage to the attic and side of the home, along with a vehicle and a drift boat parked on the side, Sartain said. Firefighters saved a fully restored 1956 Ford by pushing it out of the garage into the driveway. Theis said he is grateful for the save. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.   Reach reporter Ryan Pfeil at 541-776-4468 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/ryanpfeil.