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Fire ruins Sams Valley home Mail Tribune photo / Bob Pennell Marshall McCauley watches the fire advance toward his 240-acre ranch off Jones Road. 200 fight quickly spreading Antioch Road fire By Joanna Collins A fire swept through more than 400 acres of forested residential property north of Sams Valley on Tuesday, destroying at least one home. It could have reached more, if not for the efforts of firefighters and friends. At press time, the Antioch Road fire was 50 percent contained. Officials hoped to get it under control by 5 a.m. today. With temperatures reaching 100 degrees Tuesday and afternoon winds gusting, the flames traveled quickly. "We�re at the mercy of the weather right now," said Deputy State Fire Marshall Mark Moran. Johnny Lowery said he was in Eagle Point with his wife when he saw the smoke coming from the direction of his brother and sister-in-law�s home on Antioch Road. Since the two were on vacation in Alaska, Lowery rushed to the scene to save what he could. While flames crackled and flared in the tall trees not far from the back of the house, Lowery and others packed cars with important papers, family pictures and even a goat. "The rest of it can be replaced," Lowery said before leaving. The cause of the fire is under investigation. It was initially reported as a car fire around 4 p.m. in the 20000 block of Antioch Road. The flames spread from the car to a nearby house, fire officials said, leaving nothing but the charcoal remains of the foundation. Sparks then flew to tall pine trees behind the house. The fire soon caught on and moved over the hill, threatening at least six homes, according to Moran. At one point, the flames grew so quickly that members of a fire crew were separated and nearly trapped, he said. Officials said that, as of late Tuesday night, about 200 fire personnel from throughout the Rogue Valley were fighting the blaze and would work through the night. Two hundred more were expected to arrive today. Also on scene were 12 engines, eight bulldozers and two water tenders. Officials said they would continue to fight the blaze with helicopters and air tankers today before the weather warmed up. About a mile south of the action at 7 p.m., the McCauley family watched and prepared as the fire moved toward their 240-acre ranch off of Jones Road. Jerry McCauley, whose father, Marshall, started the ranch more than 20 years ago, was at work when his wife called him about the developing column of smoke. "I knew that if it started back up there, it�d be here so I came straight home," he said. "All the ingredients are there to cause a disaster," he said about the afternoon gusts of wind that he said he can set a clock by. While helicopters dipped water out of the ranch�s prized trout ponds, the family and neighbors worked hard to prepare the property�s four houses for the worst. Sprinklers were set up on rooftops and the cows were brought in just in case they had to be shipped off. Friend Ian Hartley and his family brought over extra hoses and sprinklers, offering any help they could. Hartley said he liked how people were brought together at the McCauley ranch when a fire looms over. "They become real Americans," he said. "Americans helping Americans." The last big fire to sweep through the area was the 8,000-acre Hull Mountain Fire, which killed one firefighter and burned nine dwellings during the last week of August of 1994. Although investigators determined that fire had been caused by arson, no one was ever convicted of starting the blaze. 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