EUGENE, Ore.– A family is struggling to make ends meet after their work truck caught fire last week. Neighbors were able to alert the lone family member who was asleep inside before the fire could spread to the home.
If it was not for the fast actions of several neighbors alerting Riley Strader about his work truck burning, he felt that he may have lost his home to the blaze as well. Strader said it is because of them; the situation did not get any worse than it already is.
“If we didn’t live in the neighborhood that we do, me and you wouldn’t be having this interview right now,” Strader said. “Over night from the block warmer I think it surged, and it sparked I think the diesel ate the rubber away in the block warmer and it just sparked and caught fire.”
Riley said he estimated the fire to be at least 10 feet high with flames leaving parts of the house singed. Strader owns and operates Strader Family Construction and Remodeling LLC which focuses on remodeling projects in the Eugene area. Ashley Shaffer lives with Strader and said there is no 100 percent answer about the cause just yet as the family of five is now without the critically needed work truck…