Candle starts $20,000 NW Redmond house fire

A candle left burning unattended apparently sparked a fire that caused about $20,000 damage to a northwest Redmond home Friday night, officials said.

Redmond firefighters were called shortly before 10 a.m. to the fire in the 200 block of Northwest Ninth Street, Fire Marshal Traci Cooper said.

The first of a dozen firefighters arrived to find smoke and flames coming from a second-story bedroom window, with the resident and police trying to extinguish it with a garden hose, Cooper said.

Crews were quickly able to contain the fire to the room of origin, but losses to the building and contents still tallied $20,000, the fire marshal said.

Officials said two adults were home at the time of the fire, as well as several cats and dogs. No injuries were reported.

The homeowner who lit the candle had only been out of the room for a few minutes, firefighters said.

The American Red Cross was called in to assist the residents with their immediate needs.

It was Central Oregon’s second residential fire in two days sparked by an unattended candle. One ignited drapes in a northeast Bend apartment Thursday afternoon, but the resident and a friend used a blanket to put it out before fire crews arrived.

“Redmond Fire and Rescue would like to remind everyone to never leave an open flame unattended and to ensure you have working smoke detectors,” Cooper said in a news release.