Three dogs and the clothes on their backs. That’s what Patty Scarboro and Ted Swigart walked away with when a fire consumed their Sonoita residence last month.
“I had a lot of stuff inside,” Scarboro said in a phone interview. Carousel giraffes, a picture of her grandfather along with other mementos, pottery. But the biggest loss was Duke, a 2½-year-old bloodhound/coon hound mix. His remains were later found next to the bed where, on restless nights, Scarboro slept.
“The house can be rebuilt,” she noted. And as of this writing, that’s the plan. Luckily, the couple does have home insurance. Scarboro purchased the property on Paint Trail in 2000, designed the house and, in 2004, moved in.
When news of the fire spread, she and Swigart received seven offers from local residents to house them. Currently they are living in the second home of a Tucson couple. But that is not the only generosity they’ve experienced.
Larry Fisher of Sonoita started a GoFundMe page with the hopes of raising $30,000, an arbitrary amount based on best practices. An account also has been opened at the local National Bank of Arizona branch to accommodate those who want to make a direct donation. No account numbers needed—just say it’s for Patty and Ted.
They have also been grateful for clothing donations. “It seems ironic that 95 percent of the clothing fits perfectly,” Scarboro said.
Swigart summed it up using one of Ted’s words to describe the outpouring: overwhelming.
“Ted says why would they want to help us.” She chalks it up to the generous spirit of this rural community. “I just want people to know how much this has meant to us.”
The scenario that brought about the couple’s current situation started on the evening of Jan. 24. Anyone who has a fireplace might relate. Sometimes if the wind is blowing, a bit of smoke comes into the house. Other times the smoke reflects a log too close to the fireplace front.
Around 10pm, Scarboro was in another room de-decorating the Christmas tree. Thinking Swigart was still in the room with the fireplace, she went to show him something. Not there. And the room was smoky.
“I went to find him,” Scarboro said. He had stepped outside to see if he could determine what was causing the smoke. Nothing there. Back inside, she saw a glow from a vent in the ceiling.
“My thought was to get the dogs out,” Scarboro said. Which they did, except for Duke, who they couldn’t locate. At this point, it was impossible to breathe in the house.
The timeline on such situations can be confusing—smoke, dogs, a sense of disbelief. At some point 911 was called.
Response time was roughly five minutes, according to Sonoita-Elgin Fire District (SEFD) chief Marc Meredith. Two of the five firefighters on duty at the time—four on duty is customary, but on this day, the district was staffed with an “extra” person—were in Tucson with a medical emergency, which is typical of a majority of the calls the district receives.
Three firefighters and two trucks rushed to the scene, and Meredith was quickly summoned from his home in Patagonia. The call went out for reinforcements, and eventually 32 firefighters from the Sonoita-Elgin, Patagonia, Rio Rico, Nogales, Tubac, Corona de Tucson and Santa Rita fire districts arrived to contain the blaze to the one residence.
“It’s a very tragic fire,” Meredith said. “Your heart is crushed for the homeowners.
“The thing that’s difficult for a firefighter is when they get there and they know there’s a limit to what they can do. And those were the circumstances we faced, because when we arrived, there was already fire through the roof. It takes a tremendous amount of fire activity and heat for that to occur, and one of the windows was already blown out, which tells you how much fire and heat was already in part of the residence. And then it just spread pretty quickly.”
SEFD collaborated with Rio Rico fire marshal George Cluff on its investigation, but because of the collapse of the roof and extensive debris, Meredith said it was impossible to pinpoint an exact determination of its origin. “After talking to the homeowners, being on-site, doing our follow-up investigations, from what we can tell, we believe the chimney was a part of it and that it started in the attic,” he said.
Meredith and fire district staff are aware that when homes are lost, criticism of their response is inevitable.
“There will be folks who don’t think we did the greatest job, and that’s okay,” he said. “That’s their opinion and they are entitled to it. I think, hopefully, people understand that we’re a fire district with one station and four people on duty at any given time.”
But as public confidence is important to a rural fire district, the department is planning a public information session on this specific blaze, an opportunity to show pictures, discuss what transpired, and “more importantly, to answer whatever questions they have,” Meredith said.
“I get it. I really do,” he said. “The thing that’s terrible is that two people in this community that are really good folks lost their home—and almost all their possessions.”
He also stressed that thanks to equipment and training, the SEFD is “better able to fight fires than ever before.”
With over a foot of debris in some parts of the burned-out home to sift through, Scarboro and Swigart are trying to reclaim what they can of the past. However, they’re focused on the future. And perhaps, after the rebuild, hosting a community gathering to acknowledge the generosity of friends and strangers.
Carrie White can be contacted at CarrieWhitePRT@gmail.com.
Chimney Maintenance Guidelines for Fireplace Owners
Based on the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District’s investigation into the fire that destroyed the home of Patty Scarboro and Ted Swigart, it is believed that the fire began in the attic, but heat from the fireplace chimney was a contributing factor.
SEFD chief Marc Meredith said chimney fires are not unusual, “especially when they’ve been used for a long time, you get natural buildup and things like that.”
Meredith offered the following guidance for homeowners who use fireplaces:
“You want to make sure you’re only burning things that are meant to be burned in a fireplace—and that’s not all [types of] wood.
“Make sure you’re not overloading what the fireplace is designed to handle, that you’re not trying to evacuate more heat and smoke than is intended.
“Having it routinely checked and cleaned by somebody who’s trained to do so is another good way to ensure that your chimney is in good working order. Once a year sounds very reasonable.”
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