Mount Vernon, OR – Seven people lost their homes, and most lost all their belongings, in an explosion and fire last week at the Mt. Vernon Motel and RV Park.
Neighbors reported hearing a loud explosion and then seeing black smoke billowing from the residential motel at 195 Mountain Blvd., off U.S. Highway 26 in Mt. Vernon. The fire was reported about 10:30 a.m., and fire crews arriving on the scene saw flames shooting from the building.
Sheriff Glenn Palmer said the explosion literally lifted the roof from the old office area of the motel, and the roof caved into the structure.
Timothy Wayne Sherlock, 66, who lives at the residential motel, was severely burned in the incident. Neighbors and witnesses helped him on the scene. He was taken by Blue Mountain Hospital Ambulance to the John Day hospital and later flown to the Emanuel Hospital Burn Center in Portland.
Palmer said the motel’s absentee owners are John and Linda Bennett.
The fire consumed about 50 percent of the motel, with smoke and water damage throughout the rest of the apartments. It was termed a total loss.
Mt. Vernon Fire Chief Bill Cearns said his local crew received mutual aid from John Day, Prairie City and Canyon City volunteer fire departments a total of 19 firefighters were on scene.
“They helped a lot,” he said. “It took a lot of manpower to get the fire out. We had two roofs that had a metal roof on top of that you have to chase it down.”
He said they used a backhoe to pull a beam off to get to the fire.
Bob Dodson, who lived two doors down from Sherlock’s apartment, was home when the blast occurred. He also lost everything in the fire, but his thoughts were focused on his neighbor.
“I was in my room, in No. 6, and I heard a real bad explosion,” he said. “I thought a semi-truck left the road and hit the building. I looked out the screen door and watched all the glass in slow motion fly out to the parking lot.”
When Dodson went out to check on Sherlock in No. 8, he could hear him calling out.
“I couldn’t see him because the ceiling had fallen down,” he said. “The front door was blown completely gone. When I got to the doorway going to his room, and I had to hold up the ceiling to help him get out the rest of the way. The ceiling had fallen on him, and he was burned.”
He said he worried that another neighbor in No. 7 was caught in the fire, but he learned she was OK on her way to a doctor’s appointment.
Dodson said he got a phone call from Sherlock in the hospital last week.
“He’s going to be sore for awhile,” he said, adding the healing process is expected to be more than two or three months.
“We’re all rooting for him,” Dodson said. “It was an accident he’s my buddy.”
The Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office and Oregon State Police Arson Division were called in to help local authorities determine the cause of the fire.
Palmer said the investigation confirmed it was a propane accident. He said Sherlock had shampooed his carpet the day before and, while moving furniture, may have bumped a propane line. Investigators found a bend in the pipe and a small hole, which probably leaked slowly overnight, filling the room with gas.
“When he went to the kitchen and turned on the electric range, the apartment exploded,” Palmer said, noting the force of the blast buckled the kitchen range. He said the propane, being heavier than air, had filled the room from the floor level up, explaining the bad burns to Sherlock’s feet.
The explosion shook the neighbors.
“It was scary and loud, and scared my animals,” said Tami Ingersoll, who lives across the motel lot. “Before too much happened I was standing behind the trailer, and I prayed to God, ‘Don’t let those tanks explode’ there were propane tanks behind the motel.”
She said she was glad people didn’t panic, noting that three bystanders came to Sherlock’s aid.
One put her flannel shirt under his feet, and another brought a blanket.
Ingersoll described Sherlock’s wounds as third-degree burns to the head, hands and feet.
“It was terrible,” she said. “Bob Dodson pulled him out; he’s a hero everybody was a hero.”
The American Red Cross responded to help four people find shelter, providing a motel stay for one week, and five in all with food and clothing.
“That’s what Red Cross can do assist with temporary shelter, food and clothing,” said Joan Bowling who is captain for the local chapter’s Disaster Action Team.
An account to help those displaced by the fire has been set up at Old West Federal Credit Union, and donation jars are being placed on counters of local businesses.
In addition, Mt. Vernon resident Ann Frost is collecting items, particularly linens and bedding, to help the residents get set up once they find new places to live.
“Some of these people lost everything,” she said, noting most are both elderly and on limited funds.
One woman had just spent her food stamps on groceries and managed to pay for new false teeth all were lost in the fire.