FOREST GROVE, Ore. (KOIN) — A fire apparently caused by a cigarette smoldering in a trashcan killed a 64-year-old Forest Grove man Saturday night while he was on the phone with a 911 operator.
The man, who hasn’t been identified, called 911 around 8 p.m. to report the fire at Rose Grove RV Park on the 4000 block of Pacific Avenue.
“He said the house was filling with smoke and that he was having a hard time breathing,” Forest Grove Fire Marshal David Nemeyer told KOIN 6 News.
Crews arrived on the scene quickly, but the man died in the fire.
Neighbor Ramona Valenzuela said he was a very good man and she would help him when he needed it.
“He’d call me and he’d say, ‘Honey, I’m home!’ and then he’d say, ‘I was just wondering what you made for dinner, if you could bring me some,'” she said. “I kept telling [the firefighters] ‘Bill’s in there, Bill’s in there. Get him out!’ Finally, one gentleman said, ‘We know somebody’s in there. We’re trying.'”
One firefighter was taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
“I’ve been his neighbor for years and years, never had any problems with Bill,” Valenzuela said. “He was a very good neighbor.”
Investigators determined the fire started inside a trashcan in the man’s bedroom where discarded cigarettes were found. No foul play is suspected.
KOIN 6 News will have more information as it becomes available.
Filed under: Top Video, Washington County
