Two chickens lost in NE Bend coop fire

(Update: Bystander, police stopped fire’s spread)

Two chickens were lost in a fire that burned a chicken coop and nearby brush in northeast Bend Tuesday afternoon, caused by a clamp-style heat lamp that fell into the combustible bedding, a fire official said.

Firefighters responded around 12:30 p.m. to a reported fire behind a home in the 800 block of Northeast Fourth Street, Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said.

Initial reports indicated it might be a brushfire, but arriving crews found a chicken coop on fire and spreading to the adjacent brush.

Derlacki said a bystander and policed officers stopped the fire before crews arrived, keeping it from spreading before it could reach a nearby detached garage. Firefighters finished the work and made sure it was fully out, conducting mop-up.

The fire official noted that clamp-style heat lamps have a tendency to lose strength in their claimps as they warm up and the metal starts to expand.

The Bend Fire Department suggests that all lamps used to warm animals be secured to their supports with more than just a clamp, to prevent fires. It can be done with nails, screws, wire, zip ties or the like. That also will keep them from being knocked off by an animal and falling into the straw or shavings.