Home damaged in Camp Sherman

A fire most likely caused by a faulty electric heater severely damaged a Camp Sherman home on Thursday, January 11.

According to Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Chief Don Rowe, the home in Metolius Meadows on Forest Road 1419 was unoccupied. It is a vacation home for a Eugene family.

Rowe said the heater was likely kept active to prevent water pipes from freezing.

The fire ran from the heater up the wall and into the ceiling, Chief Rowe said, and firefighters had to rip a considerable portion of the ceiling down to tackle the blaze.

The call-out on the fire came at 1:15 p.m. According to Rowe, a Forest Service employee driving past the house spotted the fire and called it in.

It took approximately 20 minutes for 17 personnel from Sisters, Camp Sherman and Black Butte Ranch to knock the blaze down. Crews were on hand for three hours doing mop up.

Damage estimates are incomplete, but Rowe said the cost would likely run between $20,000 and $30,000.

This was the second serious residential fire in a month. On December 28, a fire virtually destroyed an older house in Sisters. That house, too, was unoccupied at the time of the blaze. Cause of that fire has not been determined.