Cooking fire causes $30,000 damage to SE Bend home; fire official offers safety tips ahead of holiday meals

(Update: Adding video, interview with deputy fire marshal)

Cooking oil spilled on hot stove burner, ignited

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A neighbor used an extinguisher to help stop a cooking fire spreading from the kitchen of a southeast Bend home Friday evening, but not before about $30,000 in damage, officials said. The cause was traced to cooking oil that spilled on a hot stove burner and ignited.

Bend Fire & Rescue was dispatched around 6 p.m. to reports of a spreading kitchen fire at a home in the 60000 block of Devon Circle, just off Knott Road, Deputy Fire Marshal Cindy Kettering said.

"The family ran to the neighbor's house, he grabbed his fire extinguisher and ran to try and put the fire out," Kettering explained.

Arriving fire crews found the neighbor had knocked down most of the fire with a dry chemical fire extinguisher, Kettering said. The fire had spread to combustibles near the stove and the kitchen cabinets.

Firefighters quickly put out the rest of the flames, she said, with fire damage limited to the kitchen range and cabinets, but there was smoke damage throughout the home. Losses were estimated at $20,000 to the structure and $10,000 to its contents.

The American Red Cross was called in to assist the home’s residents – four adults, three children and a dog.

"According to the US Fire Administration, cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home fire injuries," Kettering said in a news release. "Always watch what you are cooking, never leave cooking unattended, and keep handles on pans turned toward the back of the stove."

For more cooking safety tips, visit Bend Fire's website at https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/fire-rescue/safety-tips-emergency-preparedness/year-round-safety-tips.