Wheelchair-bound Oregon Man Dies In Fatal Camas Valley House Fire

A 76-year-old man was found dead in a Camas Valley house fire Wednesday evening after firefighters had extinguished a blazing house fire.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) confirmed that DCSO, with the Camas Valley, Tenmile, and Lookingglass Fire Departments, Central Douglas Fire and Rescue, Winston Police Department, Umpqua Valley Ambulance, REACH Air Medical Services, and Douglas Electric, responded to an emergency call on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, shortly before 9:30 pm.

Callers reported a house on fire in the 300-block of Holmes Creek Road in Camas Valley. They indicated that a man who uses a wheelchair, Richard Wayne Bemiller, was still inside the structure. Despite several attempts, witnesses could not get him out of the home.

Deputies and firefighters evaluated two people for injuries sustained in the incident and found Bemiller inside the home.

He was pronounced deceased at the scene. The Douglas County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating, and the Fire Marshal’s Office must still establish the cause of the fire.