Barn Fire Adds To Busy Day For Sweet Home Fire (Photo) - 05/23/26

The Friday on May 22nd was extra busy for Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District as they ran 15 calls for emergency service in a 14 hour period on one shift. The afternoon was interupted by a structure fire on Airport Road at 4:33 PM. Crews arrived to find a barn in a field with the roof on fire and residents attempting to spray water onto the roof with a hose. The primary residence was approximately 100 feet away and in the path of a stiff downwind of the burning barn. The first arriving unit was a command brush rig and used its onboard water to keep the flames at bay as an engine took the last water hydrant on Airport Road and layed in with a full crew to knock down the fire. Working both interior and exterior operations simultaneously, the engine company was able to extinguish the fire quickly and save as much of the contents of the barn as possible while preventing fire spread to the surrounding area. The 100 year old barn was in good condition and the majority of the damage was contained to the roof with minor damage to the interior as the roof had begun to fall in. The fire most likely started from a cast ember from a burn pile upwind approximately 75 feet away. The afternoon winds had picked up and the roof construction was cedar shake with years of moss growth that had dried with the past week of warm weather and steady winds. The Sweet Home Police Department assisted with traffic control during the operation, as the hydrant supply line was across Airport Road at the bottom of 50th Ave. In anticipation of the Memorial Day Weekend, Sweet Home Fire had upstaffed by adding a brush engine crew to the daily roster. This asset, as well as the luck of having no other calls at the time, added to the success of a quick response and extinguishment for crews. Only hours later Sweet Home had all ambulances on calls for service, a brush engine enroute to a fire in Cascadia, and an Albany medic unit responding to another call in our district as Lebanon Fire was also out of units running multiple calls. As this weekend gets in to full swing, we would like to ask the community to please be extra careful and pay close attention to any burning materials as crews may be stretched thin and are doing all that we can to be available to respond to all emergencies. Sweet Home Fire would like to thank the Sweet Home Police Department and Albany Fire for their response and assistance during this eventful shift.