By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
The cause of the July fire that engulfed the Ziggurat house just north of Tenmile Creek remains a mystery after an investigation by state fire officials was unable to find its source.
“Undetermined” was the official declaration by the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s office for the July 6 blaze that destroyed the top two floors of the four-story multi-million-dollar home built in 1985.
The agency’s findings issued in an Aug. 15 report found the blaze started on a fourth-floor deck but lead investigator Kristina Deschaine said the source will likely never be known.
“It was complicated because it was on the fourth floor of the building and I just could not figure it out,” said Deschaine, who is a deputy state fire marshal assigned to Lane County. “Sometimes that’s the way it goes, the evidence burns away so I don’t ever get a chance to see it.”
The six-page fire investigation report also dispelled speculation by its owner that fireworks caused the fire after interviews with neighbors conducted by Deschaine revealed that no one had seen or heard fireworks the day of the fire.
A postcard mailed to Yachats’ residents in September by its owner Pamela Staton and her husband, Russell Baldwin, seeking donations claimed the “the cause of the fire is still under investigation, arson is suspected.”
The GoFundMe campaign for Staton and Baldwin stands at $15,246 of a $100,000 goal — the estimated cost of demolishing the house and hauling away the debris.
Staton defended her claim of arson when asked by YachatsNews.
“Well, we didn’t start the fire and the fire started on the fourth-floor deck on the outside where there’s no electrical,” she said. “There’s nothing up there. There’s no barbeque. Nobody was up there. So, something hot (that) really had an accelerant took off fast.
“We think it was a bottle rocket or a mortar and the neighbor did hear mortar rockets being fired that day from the beach,” Staton said. “But nobody witnessed it. So that’s why it’s ‘undetermined,’ because there’s witnesses saying there could have been a mortar but nobody actually saw it.”
But Deschaine’s report says there were no such reports the day of the fire and the investigation by the fire marshal’s office has wrapped up.
“There’s all kinds of rumors and I’ve heard all sorts of things, but I’m saying undetermined and I’m the one that’s the fire investigator,” Deschaine said. “I know a lot of people don’t like that and I certainly don’t like to say I don’t know, but sometimes I don’t know.”
Baldwin working on 4th floor
Baldwin was home when the fire broke out but it was not detected until later in the day when Staton returned from running errands and said she smelled smoke.
According to the fire marshal’s report, Baldwin had been replacing a bathroom faucet on the fourth floor when the Dremel tool he had plugged in next to the sink tripped the breaker. Baldwin told investigators that he ran an extension cord to another outlet and then went downstairs “to relax” for about 90 minutes before Staton arrived.
Baldwin told Deschaine “the items” he could imagine starting the fire were either the outlet or the air circulation pump on top of the house, according to the report.
Because the home, which is uninsured and valued at $2.5 million in 2022 according to Lane County tax records, is located outside any fire district, the couple is on the hook for paying costs incurred by fire departments that responded to the blaze.
While some agencies, like Siuslaw Valley Fire & Rescue in Florence and the Newport Fire Department said they have no plans to charge for their services, others have already sent bills or will soon.
The total bill is $14,586 and breaks down as follows: Yachats Rural Fire Protection $4,361; Toledo Fire Department $1,239; Depoe Bay Fire District $1,771; Seal Rock Rural Fire Protection District $897; and Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District in Waldport, which was first to respond, $6,316.
Mortgage and mitigation
After a legal fight that started in 2018, Staton’s property in Tenmile is in process of being foreclosed on by The Bank of New York, which claims she owes $1.22 million on a 2005 mortgage of $735,000, plus interest, penalties and fees since stopping loan payments 2009, according to records in Lane County circuit court. Default orders have been signed by a Lane County circuit judge terminating the interest in the property against several defendants including Staton who have or may claim an interest in the property. The Bank of New York is actively pursuing a judicial foreclosure sale of the property.
Staton disputes the details about what is owed and where things stand. Litigation about which financial institution owns the note and what is owed began in 2010, she said. Litigation went all the way to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Staton said, then added that the bank failed, rescinded everything and then she claimed “pretender lenders” stepped in with a false chain of titles.
“We were supposed to go to mediation, and then this happened,” she said. “So, it’s kind of, it’s all a big mess. It’s been a big mess. We’re just trying to get the bank to come in and use their insurance policy at this point to clean it up, cover it, and then we can go through mediation.”
Baldwin is the attorney defending Staton.
Staton clarified by saying there is lender-placed insurance on the property but did not go into detail because of the ongoing lawsuit surrounding mortgage payments.
“It’s just heartbreaking because I felt so good about mediation going into it, that I had all the aces, and this was going to go away once and for all,” she said. “And then this happens.”
• Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
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To read the full Oregon Fire Marshal’s report on the Ziggurat house fire, go here
According to court records this home was not in litigation. A default had just been signed and is bank owned. That’s what happens when you don’t make a payment for ten years.
What a convoluted story. Claims arson by a fireworks but no body saw any evidence according to the investigation. Investigation over with no findings. Did it not occur to them that the power tools that were plugged in on the 4th floor where the fire started and just before the fire started and had already tripped a breaker might have something to do with it? Where was the extension cord plugged into? Who doesn’t carry insurance on a multi-million dollar house? Do they own the house? Are they paying their mortgage? I don’t understand all the litigation and bank mess. It’s very confusing and a bit sketchy. I’am sorry they lost their home and possessions.
Very sketchy story. Anyone can look up court records for Lane county. The property is in foreclosure. The forced placed insurance by the bank has been in effect since 2010 as no payments have been made. The person living there has filed motion after motion and appeals. Anyone can read the lawsuits or the u tube video at the appeals court.