Early Morning Barn Fire in Rural Albany Determined Suspicious; Investigation Continues

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Albany Fire Department investigators have completed their scene examination of the barn fire that occurred at 2277 Kenworthy Rd NE and determined the circumstances surrounding the fire to be suspicious; however, the exact cause of the fire is undetermined at this time. Fire fighters had responded to the property owned by Ray and Monika Nowotny early Monday morning to reports of a fire and found a small barn fully involved with flames. The nearly one-hour incident presented fire fighters with challenges to protect a larger barn on the adjacent property from heat damage, and avoidance of live downed power lines; however, no injuries resulted from the incident.

The Fire Department's investigation of the scene was supported by investigators from the Oregon State Police Arson Unit and the Office of the State Fire Marshal. The intense fire destroyed this out-building and severely damaged its contents. The estimate of the dollar loss has been revised upward to $19,000 to the building and $1,000 to its contents.

No determination has been made at this time as to whether this fire is connected to the out building shop fire that occurred at 5124 Old Salem Road NE in Millersburg, which is about 2.1 miles away. The Millersburg fire was reported about thirty-four minutes following the Kenworthy Road incident.

The investigation of this fire is ongoing and is being closely coordinated with the Jefferson Fire District's investigation of their incident. Investigation of both of these fires is being conducted with the assistance of the Oregon State Police Arson Unit, Linn County Sheriff's Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Follow-up inquiries into the status of these investigations should be directed to the following contacts:

Old Salem RD - Tammy Robbins, Public Information Officer - Jefferson Fire District - 541-619-1296

Kenworthy Rd - Michael Trabue, Division Chief/Fire Marshal - Albany Fire Department - 541-619-8118



Author:Albany Fire Department Press Release