PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - A historic Oregon baseball stadium was destroyed on Monday in a blaze that prompted evacuations of several dozen homes within a two-block radius.
The vacant Civic Stadium in Eugene was engulfed in flames shooting twice the building's height when firefighters arrived on Monday evening, police said in a statement.
The structure was scheduled to break ground on a major expansion and renovation in July after a years-long public campaign, according to local non-profit Eugene Civic Alliance.
"We will be looking at the cause. However, the dry condition of the timber in this particular structure, it just took off, and there's not much you can do about that," Eugene-Springfield fire chief Randy Groves told local newspaper the Register-Guard.