Stove Pipe Fire Causes Thousands of Dollars in Damage

An overheated stove pipe started a flue fire at an Eagle Point home just after 4 a.m. today that caused between $5,000 and $8,000 in damage, Jackson County Fire District No. 3 officials said.

Battalion chief Arlen Blenkush said the fire started near the attic level of an old carriage house that had been converted into a bunk house on the 300 block of South Shasta Avenue. A three-foot length of single wall pipe near the attic level overheated and started the blaze. There were two occupants inside the property at the time, fire officials said. Both occupants were able to extinguish a majority of the fire with a hose before fire crews arrived to extinguish the rest, which took about five minutes, Blenkush said.

There were no injuries during the fire. Blenkush estimates a three-foot by 15-foot section of the attic was damaged. Flames did not make it through to the roof.

"It was charred pretty deep," Blenkush said.

Fire officials said single wall pipe lets out too much heat into the surrounding wood of a structure, which is why double wall pipe is preferred.

"It kind of just breaks down," Blenkush said.

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