Failed light fixture fills downtown Bend shop with smoke

A failure in a bathroom’s fluorescent light fixture at a downtown Bend consignment shop brought out fire crews to the smoky office building Thursday morning, officials said.

Crews responded shortly after 10 a.m. to the reported structure fire in a building at 910 NW Harriman Street, at the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Harriman, Battalion Chief Dave Howe said.

Firefighters found smoke throughout the building and the light fixture in a bathroom that had failed and burned, though there was no fire, Howe said. They used fans to clear the smoke from the structure.

Howe said the cause was determined to be an electrical connection that had failed in the fluorescent light fixture.

Losses were estimated at $1,000. The consignment shop remained open for business, and the 900 block of Harriman was closed for a short time.

The Bend Fire Department reminded the community to be sure all electrical fixtures and appliances are working normally and to have a licensed electrical contractor check out any potential problems such as overheating, arcing and intermittent failures.