PORTLAND, Ore. – An elderly Seaside couple who died early Friday in a fire at their home caused by candles they were using during a power outage were the first deaths blamed on a major storm that blew through Oregon with hurricane-strength gusts, officials said.
The couple, whose names were not immediately released, had no smoke alarms in their home on the Oregon coast, investigators said.
“Apparently, the home had lost power earlier in the day and the couple used candles as a source of light,” said Oregon supervising deputy state fire marshal Dave Jones.
In suburban Gresham, a family of six was poisoned by carbon monoxide from a generator set up in a garage after a storm knocked out power, police said Friday.
The home was among about 350,000 that lost power during a major northwest storm Thursday night and Friday.
Three children were listed in serious condition Friday evening; a fourth child and two parents were in good condition.
Shawn Lifferth, 37, and Patrice Lifferth, 44, carried three unconscious children out of the house at about 9:30 a.m. Friday before collapsing themselves, said Gresham Fire Department Battalion Chief Eric Longren.
The children – 5-year-old twins Gabriella and Colby, and 10-year-old Hanna – had slept in a bedroom behind the garage and in another one upstairs in the family’s split-level house. An older child, 14-year-old Chelsea Hunter, was able to leave unassisted.
One of the adults awoke to find the children unconscious, according to Gresham police spokeswoman Teddi Anderson.
The state’s two major utilities said about 350,000 homes lost power around Oregon with winds topping 90 mph and reports of gusts of more than 100 mph.
By 6:30 p.m. Friday, Portland General Electric said it had about 130,000 customers without power, while Pacific Power reported earlier it was down to 64,000. Some of those customers are in Washington state.
Both utility companies said outages would persist into today, and PGE said they might go into next week.
The Coast Guard was searching the central coast for three members of a catamaran crew whose boat was spotted wrecked only about 50 feet from shore at Lincoln City.
Coast Guard Station Depoe Bay received a call about 10 a.m. Friday that a catamaran had been spotted upside-down without its mast.
The owner of the vessel in Renton, Wash., who was not identified, reported he had hired a crew to bring the boat from South Africa to Seattle. The vessel was last seen leaving San Francisco on Dec. 8, Coast Guard officials said.
The ship’s log was found aboard the catamaran, and the last entry showed it about 10 miles from Cape Blanco on Dec. 11, officials said.
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