Crews seek cause of NW Bend apartment fire

(Update: Adding video, comments from battalion chief on scene)

Crews quickly extinguished a fire in a northwest Bend apartment Thursday morning, but not before it caused some $60,000 in damage and content losses, officials said.

Bend Fire and Rescue responded around 10:12 a.m. to the reported fire in a four-plex apartment building at 1550 Northwest Milwaukee Avenue, south of Newport Avenue, Battalion Chief Dave Howe said.

They arrived to find smoke coming a second-floor balcony door, went in and found the fire in a second-floor bedroom, Howe said. They quickly put it out, confining the fire to a single room and its contents.

The resident was not home at the time of the fire, which triggered a smoke alarm and alerted others, who called Deschutes County 911, the fire official said.

“Even though the fire is out, the smoldering contents are still off-gassing and the volatile products of combustion — mostly plastic stuff is what we put in our houses any more — is still in the air and being produced for up to 24 hours,” Howe said.

Crews entered all four apartments in the building to evacuate occupants and ensure there was no fire, smoke spread or carbon monoxide. Howe said one other apartment had unusually high carbon monoxide levels, but the occupant was fine.

“One was sleeping, and they slept through the knock on the door, so we forced entry into the adjacent apartment and woke her up, got her out and found that they had fairly high carbon monoxide levels in that room,” Howe said. “So we’re really glad we were able to get her out of there.”

The cause of the fire was under investigation. Losses were estimated at $50,000 to the building and $10,000 worth of contents. The building owner had insurance, but the renter did not, Howe said.

Howe said the fire made clear that working smoke alarms not only save lives, but alert passers-by of a fire, reducing the risk of a delayed alarm.

He also reminded that owner’s liability insurance does not cover damage to renters’ property, “so if you rent, it is important to carry a renter’s insurance policy, to cover potential loss from a fire. It is inexpensive and can prevent many unpleasant headaches.”