Wind-fanned Cloverdale fire destroys home, burns 1.5 acres

(Update: Cloverdale fire destroys home, losses top $400,000)

A wind-fanned fire that apparently began in the garage of a Cloverdale home Thursday afternoon quickly spread and destroyed the home, several outbuildings and a neighbor’s detached garage as crews from several agencies stopped a resulting brush fire at 1 1/2 acres. An official said losses totaled at least $400,000.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, but Cloverdale Fire Chief Thad Olsen said Thursday evening it’s believed to have started in the attached garage of the home, whose owners were home at the time. A neighbor alerted the older couple to the fire and helped them escape, he said.

“We got called for a small outside brush fire” in the Sun Mountain area of Cloverdale, east of Sisters, around 1:30 p.m., Olsen said, but the first crews arrived to find several outbuildings already ablaze.

At the main site of the fire in the 67000 block of West Street, the home, three outbuildings, a boat and camper were destroyed, while a neighbor lost a storage shed and detached garage.

But despite winds pushing the fire from the north, “we were successful in saving four houses in the immediate area,” Olsen said. The fire’s spread was stopped by about 2:30 p.m., but crews were on scene conducting mop-up work well into the evening.

Along with U.S. Forest Service and Oregon Department of Forestry crews, an engine and water tender each from the Bend, Redmond and Sisters fire departments were called in, along with an engine from Black Butte Ranch and Crooked River Ranch.

There were no injuries reported. The American Red Cross sent disaster responders to help the affected family. Olsen estimated the loss of the home at $350,000 and damage to the adjacent property at $50,000.

The fire “was really challenging, due to the heat and amount of fire,” the fire chief said. “The firefighters were extremely stressed.”

Second Street, Central Street and West Street were closed for firefighting efforts, deputies said as they urged the public not to enter the area where firefighting operations were underway.

They also noted Deputy Shane Zook rescued Noel the tortoise and Freddie the dog from their home when it became endangered from the fire.

There have been several recent fires in the region amid a heat wave with extreme fire danger and temperatures into the 90s.

Meanwhile, near Lava Butte south of Bend, crews held a grass fire, Incident 805, to about an acre Thursday afternoon. It was reported just a half-mile from the Lava Butte Lookout near Forest Service Road 9710 shortly before 4 p.m. and grew slowly in the hot afternoon winds.

Firefighters had the blaze fully lined by about 5:30 p.m.

Also, fire officials said Sunday’s Bessie Butte Fire southeast of Bend is now 95 percent contained and all road closures associated with the blaze have been lifted.