Document text
Medford woman dies in house fire Mail Tribune photos / Roy Musitelli Above: Family members, including home owner Judy Bohning, of the victim of a fatal house fire in east Medford stand outside their home while firefighters douse remaining embers. by Mark Freeman An 86-year-old woman died when a fast-burning fire broke out late Friday morning at her home in an upscale east Medford subdivision. The body of Harriett Bohning was found inside the home at 1500 Angelcrest Drive, where neighbors said she had lived the past month with her neice, Judy Bohning. A man who also lives at the house, discovered the fire shortly before 11:30 a.m. and attempted to save Bohning before firefighters arrived, authorities said. He was treated at the scene for smoke in halation. Flames and smoke roared out of the one-story wood house that sits off the roadway in the Eagle Trace subdivision off Hillcrest Road along the slopes of Roxy Ann Peak, and the smoke could be seen for miles. Twenty firefighters from four Medford Fire Department engines made the eight-minute trek up Hillcrest Road and found the home fully engulfed in flames, Medford fire Chief Dave Bierwiler said. "When they were leaving the station, (firefighters) could see thick, black smoke and they saw flames shooting from the single-story house when they arrived," Bierwiler said. Firefighters doused the flames quickly with water and hacked through the roof to expose remnant flames that occasionally flared up as stunned neighbors stood by and watched. "We looked out the window and saw smoke billowing out, and it just kept billowing and billowing," neigjbor Donald Johnson said. "We just moved here. I thought, is this whole area going to burn down?" Neighbors like Brian Zastaupil climbed ladders with garden hoses to quell any embers that fell on their rooftops, but flames never spread past a cypress tree adjacent to Bohning�s garage. Ladd Zastoupil, Brian�s father, said Harriet Bohning was Judy Bohning�s aunt who had moved in about a month ago to be under her neice�s care. Once Bohning�s body was discovered, Medford police detectives were called in and the fire scene was turned into a death investigation scene. Fire inspectors suspended their probe into the fire when darkness fell Friday. Inspectors and detectives may not make an official determination on the fire�s cause until Monday, Medford police Lt. Mike Moran said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.