North Medford structure fire draws two-alarm response

Ryan Pfeil, Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.
·2 min read

Jun. 15—A structure fire at a north Medford business park drew three Rogue Valley fire agencies and temporarily closed a street Monday evening.

Crews responded to the fire, in the 500 block of Parsons Drive, just before 8 p.m. after a smoke detector activated, said Medford Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Sean Schmidt.

"We had our standard alarm-sounding response, which is just one engine, to go figure out what tripped that alarm," Schmidt said. "Most of the time, those end up being false, so that's generally just a one-engine response."

While firefighters were on their way, 911 dispatch received additional reports of smoke in the area. Fire crews upgraded to a full four-unit response. The first firefighters arrived on scene to see thick black smoke billowing out of roll-up doors to a commercial building, Schmidt said.

Officials upgraded the incident to a second alarm to call for additional aid because of the structure's size and complexity, Schmidt said. Two engines from Jackson County Fire District No. 3 and an engine from the Jacksonville Fire Department arrived to help.

Crews forced entry through the roll-up doors and located the fire in a small business workshop. Flames were mostly contained to that business. Crews then vented remaining smoke.

"We were showing good results about 15 to 20 minutes into the incident," Schmidt said.

The business the fire started in was not immediately available, but one that sustained damage was Moxley Media, a full-service screen printing and design studio.

The damage to the business of origin was "fairly extensive," Schmidt said, while some neighbors sustained smoke damage. No injuries were reported, and no structural evacuations were required.

"(The involved structure) was already empty, and there was plenty of room around it from other businesses that it had no impact on anybody else," Schmidt said.

Medford police temporarily closed Parsons Drive while firefighters extinguished the fire. It has since reopened. Utilized fire hydrants were on the other side of the street, and crews had to run hoses across it.

The cause of the fire was not immediately available.

Reach Mail Tribune web editor Ryan Pfeil at 541-776-4468 or rpfeil@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ryanpfeil.