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Meth lab items found in fire Residents in critical condition after trying to extinguish flames By MARK FREEMAN Police have found evidence of a possible methamphetamine lab inside a small rural Central Point house damaged in a Sunday afternoon fire that seriously injured the home's two residents - one of whom is awaiting a drug-possession trial. Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team detectives found some chemicals and equipment commonly used in the production of methamphetamine inside the residence at 3250 Willow Springs Road that burned in the 10:05 a.m. fire, JACNET Sgt. Jim Anderson said Monday. Detectives were unable to determine Monday if there were enough items and chemicals there to create a functioning methamphetamine lab, or if any lab had been in operation there, Anderson said. John Arthur Bell, 33, and Nicole Renee Fisher, 31, the two residents of the small house, were each listed in critical condition Monday night at the Emanuel Burn Center in Portland, where they were being treated for their injuries. Firefighters said both had second-degree burns on their arms, faces and shoulders, and firefighters had speculated that they suffered their injuries while trying to extinguish the flames. The fire ignited on or above the house's electric stove and burned hot and quickly through the kitchen-living room area, said Deputy Fire Marshal Don Hickman, of Jackson County Fire District No. 3. Flames and smoke caused about $20,000 in damage and was confined mostly to the kitchen-living room, with three other rooms damaged only slightly from smoke, Hickman said. "The fire didn't have a lot of punch to it," Hickman said, "but it was enough to do damage to that room." While fighting the blaze, firefighters found suspicious items and notified JACNET detectives who found iodine, several boxes of over-the-counter ephedrine tablets and several canisters of propane campstove fuel, Anderson said. Those are all elements commonly used in meth production, he said. Bell was awaiting a Sept. 17 trial in Jackson County on a charge of possession of methamphetamine stemming from a July 3 arrest by the Oregon State Police. Bell and Fisher lived rent-free in the house for the past year, said Helen Muller, the property owner who is also Fisher's grandmother. The Mullers live in a main house 50 feet away. Muller said she had "no idea" that chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine were on her property, though she has seen suspicious people come in and out of the residence. Muller blamed the circumstances on Bell. "If I thought he was at least thinking about (making drugs), I'd have kicked him out," Muller said. "I don't like to have my trust broken, and that really hurts me." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.