Bend family grateful, but picking up pieces after fire

(Update: Comments from family member; GoFundMe page created)

A family of six, including a newborn baby, awoke to the smell of smoke early Wednesday, family member Lionel Regan recalled later in the day.

“They didn’t see anything other than the smoke, from what I understand,” he said. “And then it just went ‘boom.’ It just went ‘poof.’ There were no smoke detectors, none of that.”

Jeremy and Desi Regan found part of their living room on fire and Jeremy initially tried putting it out.

“He was fighting it with a dry blanket, so all he was doing was starving it from oxygen, and it was out, ” Lionel Regan said. “But the heat was already in the wall, so it ignited again, and it engulfed.”

“So it burned his hand and the top of his feet and — yeah, crazy, and what do you say to that stuff? It’s sad, I don’t know what to say.”

The family grabbed their newborn baby and two 7-year-olds — their 3-year-old was not home at the time — and fled the blaze that destroyed their southwest Bend home and had begun to spread to nearby trees until firefighters stopped it.

Firefighters responded just after midnight to the reported mobile home fire in the 61000 block of Cedarwood Road, said Bend Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki. They arrived to find the home fully involved in fire.

The fire was controlled shortly after they arrived, but embers spread to trees and other dry vegetation in the neighborhood, up to a quarter-mile away on a very warm night, officials said.

Oregon Department of Forestry and U.S. Forest Service crews were called in to help keep the impending wildfire from reaching nearby homes.

The cause of the fire has been ruled undetermined, Derlacki said. That’s because the damage is so severe, investigators can’t confirm what exactly what started the fire.

But the family told NewsChannel 21, they think it was started by an electrical issue within the walls.

The American Red Cross responded and provided the family with emergency assistance, including a place to stay for a few nights, needed clothing and food, as all their belongings were lost in the fire.

Derlacki estimated the losses at $20,000 to the building and $20,000 to the contents.

Family members have set up a GoFundMe page to help the fire victims, who apparently have no insurance.

“Bend Fire Department urges everyone to ensure they have working smoke alarms in their home at all times,” Derlacki wrote in a news release.

“This family was very lucky to have woken up without a smoke alarm sounding. Having at least one working smoke alarm in your home more than doubles your chances of surviving a fire,” he said.

Both the Bend Fire Department and American Red Cross have free programs to help ensure you have working smoke alarms in your homes.

“We can come to your house and check your alarms and provide alarms if needed,” the fire official said.

Contact the Red Cross at 503-528-5783 or go online at http://www.redcross.org/local/oregon/home-fire-safety to find out more details or register for a free visit. For Bend Fire, call 541-322-6309 or find more info online at www.bendoregon.gov/smokealarms.

Red Cross disaster responders said the blaze affected two adults and three children. The agency provided resources for immediate basic needs such as temporary housing, food, clothing, comfort kits with toiletry items, information about recovery services and health and mental health services.

The Red Cross in Oregon and Southwest Washington (the Cascades Region) helps an average of three families affected by disasters, like home fires, ever day. It also advocates emergency preparedness and offers the installation of free smoke alarms. Residents can call 503-528-5783 or complete an online form at http://www.redcross.org/local/oregon/home-fire-safety.