Firefighters save homes

Sisters, 9:45 a.m. July 29 -- Homes saved at Black Butte Ranch were very close to homes that burned. Only great effort on the part of Black Butte Ranch firefighters, standing in "defensible space," saved them.

The fire scorched the ground and torched 30-foot trees into charred sticks all the way to their tops. The edges of Fiddleneck, an 18 foot wide one-way street, melted.

"This was a regular wall of fire," said Black Butte Ranch Fire Chief Ed Sherrell.

Sherrell said firefighters "really thought we had a handle on this until about 2 p.m. (on Sunday) when the wind came up and it really kicked our butt."

"It was 30 minutes of extreme heat and hot flames. It was not like in the movies. The smoke was so thick, you could not see anything." Sherrell said Black Butte firefighters were very well trained, and "I am very proud of them."

The homes lost were Golf Homes 96, owned by Tom Hiatt and Mike Poponyak, and Golf Home 97, owned by Connie Hayworth. Black Butte Ranch officials have been in touch with the owners.

Both homes had wood shake roofs. Homes across Fiddleneck that were saved had tile roofs, and "defensible space" around the structures.

"If a house has no defensible space, we cannot save it. We have no ground to stand on," said Sherrell.

The defensible space that gave firefighters room was no more than 25 to 30 feet of lawn, limbed trees or gravel.

"We (also) saved the sewer plant," Sherrell said. "That was a top priority, too. That (loss of the sewer plant) would have shut down the Ranch."

Pump houses for wells were also protected by sprinklers, to reduce the risk that pumping capacity would be lost.