Fire in juniper bushes damages NW Bend home
Bend fire crews called to the second of two fires Wednesday on Bend’s west side amid 30 mph wind gusts found neighbors working with a garden hose to stop the blaze in juniper bushes as it spread to the adjacent home, officials said.
Crews were called just after 1 p.m. to the reported fire in trees around a home in the 1400 block of Northwest Portland Avenue, Battalion Chief Dave Howe said. They arrived to find juniper landscape shrubbery in front of the house on fire, with flames up against the home as well and the neighbors at work with a garden hose.
The fire was quickly knocked down, Howe said, and crews went inside to check for any fire or smoke extension. Howe said damage to the home was minimal, totaling about $1,000.
As with the other fire earlier Wednesday, the fire was found to be human-caused, but a more specific cause could not be determined.
” The grasses and brush are drying out fast, and the predicted breezy conditions will speed up the process, ” Howe wrote in a news release, ” so the Bend Fire Department asks the community to be very careful with all sources of ignition. ”
” Also, the juniper landscaping bushes that are so popular here in Central Oregon are very flammable when they dry out, and they release a significant amount of heat energy when they burn, so be very cautious with ignition sources around that species, ” the battalion chief added.
