Woodburn Independent Online

Local family escapes house fire

None of the four occupants were injured

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 12/8/2009 9:42:32 AM
• Last Updated: 12/10/2009 11:55:14 AM

Courtesy of Woodburn Fire District
Fire officials believe the fire that destroyed this Woodburn home started in the chimney. All four members of the home escaped the early Monday morning blaze.

WOODBURN — The Woodburn Fire District declared a total loss early Monday morning after a structure fire burned a local residence to the ground.
 
Irene Ovchinnikov Berdogin was in the Workman Drive house with her children when the fire exploded. She said she heard a banging noise and walked to a set of double doors.
 
“(At) the division between my room and my brother’s side of the house, I could see red, you know, orange,” said Ovchinnikov. “Orange flames underneath the double doors. … It was fire for sure.”
 
She immediately grabbed her two sons, ages 7 and 8, and raced outside. The three of them left barefoot, she said.
 
“We didn’t grab anything,” said Ovchinnikov. “We didn’t grab shoes, we didn’t grab our coats. We just ran out of the house. … I was talking and banging on the windows. We were banging on the windows of my brother’s half of the house to get him out.”
 
She was worried, she said, because he normally sleeps by the fireplace. The flames were tall in the other half of his house and she couldn’t see or hear him.
 
“The flames were huge on the other side of the door,” she said. “… I couldn’t get to him because that portion of the house was burning. … I had no idea … in my mind I was thinking he was already … burned.”
 
It wasn’t until fire crews arrived and they were all outside that she knew her brother, Ivan, had made it out alive.
 
Almost nothing has been salvaged of the home, she said, which Ivan owned.
 
Everything in the kitchen, along with stacks of papers and other belongings were burned. Her brother’s half of the house was hit even worse, she said.
 
The entire attic is “gone to shreds,” she added.
 
When asked why she woke up just before the fire, she said it must have been an “angel.”
She couldn’t hear the fire alarm, she said.
 
“I’m pretty religious so I was just thinking it was just, you know, maybe my guardian angel looking after me and the kids,” Ovchinnikov said.
 
According to Woodburn Fire Marshal Paul Iverson, crews responded to the call just before 2 a.m.
 
“On arrival, the first engine reported heavy black smoke coming from the front door area,” said Iverson.
 
“The crew initiated an interior attack while the ladder crew opened up the roof. The attic area of the single story house was well-involved and had burned through the soffit area at the rear of the house.
 
The fire did extensive damage to the entire living area of the home.  Because the fire was deep-seated in the attic area it took crews over an hour to pull the ceilings and extinguish the hot spots.”
 
Two Woodburn fire engines, as well as a ladder and air support unit, were brought in to the call, Iverson said. Hubbard and Marion County Fire District No. 1 responded with additional engines and Monitor Fire District provided coverage at the Woodburn headquarters station with an engine.
 
The fire is currently under investigation by Woodburn and Hubbard Fire District personnel.
 
Iverson said it appears to be linked to the house’s chimney.
 
There is no estimate of damage.
 
To find out more, or to make a donation to the Ovchinnikov family, call Irene at 503-952-2474.

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