A fire that destroyed a shed, pole barn and burned through 10 acres of forest along Tenmile Creek on Aug. 13 was caused by an accidental but “catastrophic electrical failure” in a solar power system, state investigators have determined.
The fire was reported at 4:53 p.m. Aug. 13, a little more than two hours after property owner Sarah Scholfield had finished using a washing machine in the shed near her 113-year-old home that sits on 38 acres along Tenmile Creek 3.5 miles east of U.S. Highway 101.
Scholfield received first- and second-degree burns to her face while trying to extinguish the fire with a garden hose, according to the report by Deputy State Fire Marshal Shannon Miller.
The only electrical power to the property was provided by four solar panels that fed an array of batteries in the shed. The solar system was 10-15 years old, Scholfield told investigators, and new batteries were purchased in March.
In her report, Miller said that Scholfield had used the washing machine in the shed, finishing about 2:30 p.m. that Thursday and “did not hear or smell anything unusual.” She noticed a fire more than two hours later and alerted her nephew’s wife, Meria Cole, who was staying in a nearby trailer and who called 9-1-1 at 4:53 p.m.
Firefighters from Yachats and Florence were the first to arrive, followed by engines from departments in Waldport, Seal Rock and Newport. By the evening there were 10 more engines from Oregon Department of Forestry offices in Florence and Veneta, one from the U.S. Forest Service, and two, 20-person wildland firefighting crews.
The fire destroyed the shed and pole barn and damaged a deck of cedar logs that Scholfield’s nephew, Louie Cole of Waldport, used for wood in his homebuilding business. Cole also lost a trac-hoe, chain saws and other equipment. Miller estimated the loss at $50,000.
The shed contained the electrical panel, converter and batteries for the solar system, Miller said.
