By Andrea Calcagno
 
September 5, 2008
 
NEAR ASHLAND, Ore. -- Investigators are working to determine how two suspicious house fires that left a man dead early Thursday morning were started.
 
The man's body was found inside a bedroom of one of the burned down homes. Neighbors say the home belonged to David Lewis, though the body has not yet been positively identified.
 
Very little is left at the properties, both located off Dead Indian Memorial Road. On Friday investigators covered the land surrounding what's left of the home located on the 12,000 block of Dead Indian Road. Investigators say of the eight people working the crime-scene, each has a different theory about what happened.
 
"They look for everything, they leave no stone unturned. You get one shot at doing it right and so you just look at everything," says Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters.
 
The fires broke out within minutes of one another, just before 3 a.m. It wasn't until just before 4 a.m. that crews from Fire District 5, the Oregon Department of Forestry, and Greensprings Fire were dispatched. Crews say both structures were considered total losses on arrival.
 
The first fire occurred at a 100-year-old log cabin. No one was home at the time. The second occurred at a home about six miles away, where the body of a man was found.
Neighbors say Lewis was the 'watchdog' of the neighborhood. One man tells NewsWatch 12 Lewis had lived on Dead Indian Memorial Road for more than 20 years. Neighbors say he was very fire conscious and protective of the area.
The log cabin's owners say there was nothing that could have started the fire from the inside of the cabin. The building did not have electricity, and no one had used the stove. They say they don't have insurance on the cabin.