Fire pit ember sparks $90,000 NW Bend house fire

(Update: Adding insurance info)

A neighbor awakened a northwest Bend family early Saturday and they escaped their burning home as a fire sparked by an ember from a fire pit burned their front deck, causing about $90,000 damage to the home, a fire official said.

Fire crews were called to the home in the 800 block of Northwest 16 th Avenue around 1:35 a.m., Battalion Chief David Russell said. The first engine crew arrived to find a fire on the deck of the single-story home, spreading to the eaves of the house and garage, Russell said.

The first crew stopped the exterior fire as others arriving on the scene searched the home’s interior for any extension of the fire and to be sure everyone was out. Russell said the fire had spread into the garage attic space, but no other extension was found. The power was turned off and the home’s living space was ventilated with a fan.

The homeowner said the family had enjoyed a fire in their fire pit Friday evening and thought they had fully extinguished it before going to bed, according to Russell. The neighbor who spotted the deck fire awakened them and they got out and called 911.

The home is equipped with smoke detectors, but they did not go off, as smoke had not yet entered the home’s living space, Russell said.

An investigation determined the fire apparently started from an ember from the fire pit setting the deck on fire, about three feet away, Russell said. Losses were estimated at $75,000 to the home and $15,000 to its contents. The owner/occupant has insurance, he added.

“The Bend Fire Department would like to remind all home owners to insure outdoor recreational fire pits are used in a safe location away from all combustible materials and are completely extinguished before leaving them unoccupied,” Russell wrote in a news release. “Due to the quick action of a neighbor and a staffed fire station nearby, this incident was mitigated with only a moderate loss of property and no loss of life.”