Officials: Bend Truck Fire Apparently Arson
Bend police and fire are investigating a truck fire that they said was intentionally started Wednesday morning. Now, the property manager who owns the space said he wants more protection after this latest crime in a string of incidents.
The truck was fully engulfed in flames around 9:30 a.m. at 20025 Romaine Village Way. The truck was parked on property owned by Homes Direct of Oregon, where the general manager said he’s hoping it doesn’t get any worse.
“It concerns me, because the past couple of weeks we’ve had some break-ins,” said Manager Fraser Mcluskie. “The house across the street over there, the windows were just shattered and things taken out of it. And on our lot, which is back there, an older truck just caught fire today with vandalism — so we are concerned.”
Fire crews saw a thick column of black smoke as they headed to the scene, near the corner of Highway 97 and Romaine Village Way.
Fire Capt. Jeff Dufour said the small pickup’s estimated value was $500. Firefighters put out the blaze without it reaching a nearby mobile home.
Bend police said all signs point to arson, but they still need to complete their investigation. The officer on scene took pictures of footprints and items left behind.
Fire officials said there was no ignition source for the fire to start itself.
“When they were able to get the fire out, we were looking at the engine compartment, and there was no battery inside of it,” said deputy Fire Marshal T.J. Johannsen. “And so that gives us a clue that we need to be looking further into this — it wasn’t an accidental fire.”
With 12 homes on display and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of inventory and furniture, Fraser said he’s making some changes.
“That’s pretty serious, if someone just takes the time to burn a car down or burn a truck down,” said Fraser. “And yes, we have a lot of buildings that could catch fire, too. But we have good insurance, and we just need to beef up security a little better.”
The owner of the burned truck lives in Albany. Fraser said the owner just sold it, and the new owner was supposed to pick it up Thursday.
