A fire destroyed the top floor of a house early Wednesday morning after a garbage can was wheeled on to the house’s porch and set on fire, Eugene Deputy Fire Marshall Greg Musil said.
A woman driving by the house at 1037 East 19th Ave. saw the fire and reported it to the Eugene Fire Department at 3:40 a.m. Neighbor Theodore Stewart banged on the door to wake the residents, Gino and Theresa Casagrande, along with two University students living in adjacent apartments. Stewart then proceeded to fight the fire with a garden hose, Musil said.
Stewart was treated for smoke inhalation at Sacred Heart Medical Center and then released, Eugene Police Department spokeswoman Jan Power said. There were no other reported injuries.
The Fire Department fought the fire until 4:57 a.m.
“The fire managed to get into the eaves of the house and start an attic fire,” Musil said. “The home had been remodeled several times, so we had to fight the fire through several layers of wood and different construction, which made the process more difficult.”
Almost all the damage was to the second floor of the house, except for a shattered first floor window, Musil said.
University student Natalie White, who lives in one of the two apartments adjacent to the house, said she doesn’t know anyone who would want to burn down the house of her landlords.
“Gino and Theresa are totally sweet people,” White said. “Unfortunately, people sometimes party too hard and it really affects the residents.”
White said the fire set on the porch looked like a big bonfire and left substantial damage to the bedroom.
“They can’t live in the house right now because it’s too damaged,” White said. “There are holes in their bedroom ceiling.”
Musil said the garbage can used in the fire did not belong to the landlords, and that the Casagrandes don’t know of any people they suspected of setting fire to their house.
Officials from the EPD and fire department have begun an arson investigation, and the incident has been turned over to the EPD as a criminal investigation.
“Anytime that a fire can be attributed to a man-made cause, it is under an arson investigation,” Power said.
Musil said the investigators do not know what was used to set the fire, except for the garbage can, which melted on the porch.