Fire destroys residence on pandit campus

Fairfield Fire Department and Packwood Fire Department responded at 4:46 p.m. Sunday to a structure fire at 1675 Invincible America Blvd., Maharishi Vedic City.

A residential building was ablaze on the pandit campus from an unknown source. The fire is under investigation.

No one was injured.

Fairfield Fire Chief Scott Vaughan said the frigid temperatures froze water hoses, which then had to be brought back to the station to thaw.

?There was never an issue with not having enough water,? he said. ?We always take extra trucks and hoses in weather like this.?

When a hose froze, another hose was brought in.

Three Fairfield trucks and 18 firefighters responded.

Packwood also sent three trucks and 16 firefighters. Packwood Fire Department is the responding station for Maharishi Vedic City and Fairfield has a mutual aid agreement to respond for structure fires.

The residential mobile homes used on campus usually have eight bedrooms. The building is a total loss, estimated at $50,000. The contents are estimated as a $7,000 loss.

?Those are well built,? said Vaughan. ?But when firefighters arrived, the roof was in flames and it collapsed into the building, so it was more difficult to douse the contents with water.?

Firefighters returned to the Fairfield fire station at 10:13 p.m.

? By Diane Vance, Ledger staff writer