Blizzard hampers fight to save home

by Mary Le Arneal
published 4/08/09

As snow and winds gained speed Saturday night, the North Bend Fire Department was called to the home of Neal and Deborah Wegner northwest of North Bend.

The call came in at 11:21 p.m. with the firefighters on the scene at 11:36 p.m., finding the house with heavy flames and smoke. They responded with the one tanker that has a heater, two fire engines, one rescue truck and eight firefighters. They immediately called for mutual aid with Morse Bluff, Snyder, Dodge, Schuyler and Linwood responding.

“It was one of our worse nightmares,” North Bend Fire Chief Kevin Dubbs said. “Due to the weather conditions, we just couldn’t fight it.”

All of the mutual aid vehicles responding had to drive at 20 mph to reach the site. Dubbs said by the time they arrived, it was too late to enter the house safely, making it a defensive effort.

Dubbs said the temperature was in the 30s, but the blizzard-condition wind and snow made their work difficult, resulting in a total loss for the Wegner family.

The parents their son Morgan, a freshman at North Bend Central, were home Saturday night. Daughter Megann, a sixth grader at North Bend Elementary, was at a friend’s house. When some of the lights in the two story, wood structure home went out, the family found the fuse box hot and the breaker box on fire. The fuse box, located on the back porch, was soon in flames. All escaped without harm, though two pet cats were lost. The Red Cross was called in and assisted the family.

“The house is down to the foundation,” Dubbs said. “A total loss.”
The fire department had a rescue squad call in North Bend in the early morning hours. Firemen returning to town called others not involved at the Wegner fire and they were able to respond to this call.

Those returning to town returned to the fire scene in another vehicle to pick up the remaining firefighters at around 6 a.m. Three of North Bend’s fire trucks were stuck at the fire scene, with a wrecker pulling them out late on Sunday.

Dubbs said that during this time North Bend was covered by backup in case of an emergency. The firefighter were cleaning up their equipment until 6 p.m. Sunday.

A fire marshal is routinely called to any structure fire, but the fire marshal, located in David City was unable to make it out Saturday night because of the weather so the fire is still under investigation.

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