Firefighters from Clark County Fire & Rescue’s La Center station had a big problem on their hands when they arrived at a barn fire in Ridgefield early Thursday evening.
The barn fire was raging, spreading to a shop building and threatening a house at 1804 N.W. 310th St. But the crews’s fire engine, hose and water supply was about 100 yards away, parked on the other side of a private bridge that might or might not support such a heavy vehicle.
When in doubt, improvise.
The La Center crew grabbed garden hoses connected to a pump house — which was also on fire — and went on the offensive, attacking the fire and checking its spread until a lighter-weight brush fire rig could make it over the bridge to reach the scene, said Clark County Fire & Rescue Division Chief Tim Dawdy.
“It was pretty touch and go,” Dawdy said. “They had water until the time the pump house burned and the wire got severed to the pump house — and just as that happened, the brush rig made it across the bridge and got the water to them just when they needed it.”
With the additional few hundred gallons of water from the brush rig, Dawdy said, the La Center station crews were able to stop the fire before it could reach the house.
“The house is completely intact and the owner will be able to sleep in it tonight,” Dawdy said. “The La Center Fire Station did a wonderful job with local firefighting aids. They stopped the fire with garden hoses and sheer guts.”
Clark County Fire & Rescue Chief John Nohr called a second alarm to bring more personnel and equipment to the scene. Crews laid hose from the other side of the bridge up to the fire to finish the job and mop up.
Department officials inspected the bridge and determined it would support a full engine and brought one over the bridge to the fire, too.
Dawdy said the incident was a good reminder that property owners with private bridges accessing their homes should contact the Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office for an inspection, so firefighters know they are safe to cross.
The fire destroyed an 800-square-foot barn and damaged a 288-square-foot outbuilding and pump house, according to Dawdy and county property records. The house is owned by Lester and Kathryn Thornton, property records said.
The fire will be investigated by the Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office.
