Police seek person of interest in connection to July 18 fires that destroyed homes and a food pantry

BOARDMAN — Boardman Police Chief Richard Stokoe said as many as five fires burned Friday, July 18 in, or near the town, destroying five homes and a food pantry. Boardman Senior Citizens Inc. is collecting monetary donations for victims of the fires, the Boardman Chamber of Commerce announced July 19.

The group set up a donation account at Banner Bank. The name of the account is Boardman Fire Relief Fund and the last four digits are 2252. According to the chamber, donations can be made at any local branch in person, dropped off in a branch’s night depository or mailed.

Four homes burned to the ground, according to Stokoe, while a fifth was two-stories tall. Firefighters knocked down that home to stop the fire.

Five pets died in one of the house fires, Stokoe said. The owner was away at the time.

Fire also destroyed the Boardman Food Pantry, which operated out of a former church.

Boardman Senior Citizens President Rick Weiss said the money collected through the account will go to the people whose homes burned down. None of the funds collected will go to the food pantry, Weiss said.

The money will be distributed weekly and evenly among households, he said, with adjustments made based on household size. Larger households will receive a greater share of the donations. He added that households will be able to choose to receive their share of the donations immediately or have it held until they are ready to use it.

Boardman Food Pantry President Mary Killion said donations can be made to the pantry through the pantry’s account at the Bank of Eastern Oregon.

Five crowdfunding accounts are operating on GoFundMe.com for the benefit of five individuals or families who claim they lost their homes in the fires. Stokoe advised people who want to donate to help the victims should use the bank accounts.

GoFundMe automatically deducts a transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents for each donation. For a donation of $100, then, GoFundMe makes $3.20, and the recipient would receive $96.80. With the bank account, recipients will receive all the money.

The fires began on the afternoon in the span of about 90 minutes, Stokoe said, and most were in the span of an hour. The fires started in a residential area with a lawnmower setting of the first blaze.

“I was told the lawnmower exploded as they were mowing,” he said.

The second fire started soon after, Stokoe said, and reports came in that a Hispanic male ran from the fire and took off in a gray pickup. Stokoe said the male is a person of interest in that fire.

Fires also started along Interstate 84, near mileposts 171 and 161, Stokoe said, and it’s possible the man in the pickup set those as well. There also was a report July 19 on the What’s Happening Pendleton Facebook Page about a man in a gray pickup shooting info a dry field, but Stokoe said there is not enough information to connect that report to any of the fires in Boardman.

Fire fire agencies from throughout the region rushed to help the community near the Columbia River.

“Fire crews were battling at different times and different locations,” Stokoe said.

The fires also prompted the deenergizing of power lines, leaving dozens without electricity for many hours.

As bad as the day was, Stokoe said, there was no loss of human life, and the community is rally together to give support to those who need it.