Warning by neighbor saves mother and child from home fire
By William Lundquist
Argus Observer
Sunday, December 23, 2007 12:52 AM PST
VALE - A mother and child escaped injury when their Vale home burned early Thursday morning, Vale Fire Chief Todd Hesse said.
The smoke detector was not operating in the house at 535 West St. S., Hesse said, but an alert neighbor saved the day.
“There was a mother and her young child asleep in the house,” he said, “and a neighbor actually smelled the smoke and came over and alerted the members who were sleeping.”
Hesse said his department answered the 2:29 a.m. call with three engines, a ladder truck and the Vale ambulance. Fire departments from Ontario and Fruitland assisted, bringing the total of firefighters to 26. The firefighters arrived to find the attic heavily involved with fire and flames showing from the rear of the house, Hesse said. It took an hour to bring the blaze under control, and until 8 a.m. to finish mopping up. Hesse said the home suffered heavy fire, smoke and water damage and will have to be gutted.
“We saved a lot of stuff,” he said. “We were very fortunate to be able to save some pictures and some personal items.”
Hesse did not yet have an estimate of the total damage. He said the cause of the fire was electrical.
“No firefighters were injured and no civilians were injured,” he said. “And that’s the most important part. Everyone goes home.”
In another emergency Thursday, LifeFlight was able to reach an injured truck driver who had crashed in white-out conditions 35 miles west of Jordan Valley and transport him to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. Malheur County Undersheriff Brian Wolfe said he did not have all the details because the Jordan Valley deputies only make it north every few days to deliver their reports. He said Thursday that deputies were responding to the report of a semi on its side and a driver with a head trauma.
Wolfe said the Jordan Valley deputies were busy with one crash after another Thursday in the heavy snow.
Ontario Police Department Capt. Mark Alexander is seeking the public’s help in finding out who burglarized the Tranquility Bay Salon at 248 Depot Lane in downtown Ontario Dec. 15 or 16. He said a lot of hair products were stolen and would like anyone with any information to call the police.
In other public safety news, Wolfe said an off-duty deputy spotted a pickup going the wrong way on one-way Washington Street in Vale at 6:36 p.m. Thursday. The pickup turned around after about a half mile, Wolfe said, but the off duty deputy stopped the driver and called for an on duty deputy. Emil Wright, 73, Ontario, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle, and driving the wrong way on a one-way street. He was taken to Malheur County jail, Wolfe said.
An Ontario man was arrested for drunk driving Friday afternoon, Wolfe said. A deputy stopped Joaquin Hernandez, 54, Ontario on East Lane near Southeast Fifth Avenue at 12:45 p.m. for erratic driving and cited him for driving under the influence of intoxicants, Wolfe said. Hernandez was booked into the Malheur County jail, he said.
On Saturday, at 5:44 p.m., Felix Gomez, 21, Vale, was arrested at his residence on a felony warrant of third degree assault out of Malheur County Court, Wolfe said, and taken to Malheur County jail.
