Duplex fire in east The Dalles sends families scrambling
Johdon Smith surveys the damage to her apartment today, June 14 in East The Dalles.
gofundme for Johdon Smith, contribute here.
By Tom Peterson
Johdon Smith was at her apartment getting ready for work at the Safeway Deli on Thursday afternoon, June 13. It was about 4 p.m.
Her son and his girlfriend were sleeping in the nearby room on the second floor of the duplex.
Her dog Lucy, an 80-pound lab was resting nearby.
When Johdon opened her front door to leave for work…
A huge yellow flame came lashing upward entering the apartment and lapping at the eve on the deck.
“I yelled at my son three times,” the 42-year-old said. “I tried to use a bucket to put it out.”
The mother of four thanked God she was there when the fire started.
“I couldn’t stand to lose another kid,” she said, noting she had a son named Kinzoe who passed at three months old in 2019.
Johdon had grabbed a stock pot from the kitchen and was using water from the sink.
Jodon said she grabbed this stock pot in the kitchen and filled it with water to subdue flames at her front door at 1209 E. 10th Street.
Her son made it through the door and got to a hose on the ground floor and began dousing the flames as well.
Fire alarms were going off.
And the blaze moved into the attic of the duplex at 1209 E. 10th Street.
Lucy the Lab was too afraid to leave.
“I carried her down the stairs,” Johdon said.
She also grabbed her family photos, a Mother’s day blanket with pictures of her children on it.
Johdon said she called her neighbors who lived below her.
They were not home, but their dog Milo was.
So Johdon entered the downstairs apartment and ushered the dog out of the imperiled home.
12 firefighters and The Dalles Police and local utility companies were called out on the blaze that ripped through the attic of the duplex. Photo Courtesy Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue.
Firefighters, 12 in total, were called in to find flames busting through the roof in several places and began pouring water as the thick brown smoke billowed out of the roof.
Firefighters entered the second-floor apartment and began tearing out the sheetrock ceiling and dousing the interior flames.
While the roof trusses appeared to remain intact today, June 14, they were heavily charred.
Mic-Columbia Fire and Rescue Division Chief Josh Beckner said there was a 60 percent loss on Johdon’s Apartment and the apartment below was damaged by water.
“We were quick to arrive on scene and we got it knocked it out relatively quickly,” he said, noting a big assist from Station 2 in Columbia View Heights.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation and appears to have started on the deck outside the front door.
Origins of the fire are currently theorized to have started in a bucket under a plastic chair.
Johdon lifts on one of the remaining legs from the plastic chair that melted on her door step.
The bucket of origin was under the plastic chair that was beside the front door. The chair caught fire, stoking the flames into the eve and attic and along the front door.
The chair was a pool of plastic with just a few discernable legs this morning.
Johdon said a friend in the neighborhood gave her shelter last night.
Two Families Now looking for a place to live
Johdon did not have renters insurance. She was renting the apartment with the help of a Federal Housing voucher.
The rent was only $900 per month — she has not been able to find anything close to that price range thus far as she looks for a new place to live.
She said she and her son had thousands of dollars in damage.
“I’m not even done paying off the couch at Arrons yet,” she said.
The family below is also looking for a new place to live as it appears it could take months to restore the damage to the duplex.
“It will be a project to repair that roof structure,” said Division Chief Beckner. “But the fire did not get into the walls.”
Firefighters removed sheetrock from the ceiling to get at the blaze.
Firefighters were assisted at the scene by local utility companies and City of The Dalles Police.
The families are being assisted by the Red Cross, receiving money for hotel rooms for several days.
Jodon’s family could post a fundraiser to support her through this volatile time. Watch CCCNews for information about it in days to come.
Support Local News
Available to everyone. Funded by readers.
