Dog perishes in Stevens Road motor home fire, traced to unattended heater
(Update: Adding related TDS Internet, TV outage; service restored)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A fire traced to an unattended propane heater destroyed a motor home parked along Stevens Road early Wednesday morning, officials said. Biological remains found inside prompted a death investigation, which determined they were of the resident’s large dog.
Several passing motorists on their way to work notified authorities of the fire around 3:40 a.m. along Stevens Road just east of 27th Street, Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said.
Bend Fire & Rescue crews arrived to find the motor home fully ablaze. They quickly stopped the fire, keeping it from spreading to nearby brush and power poles, Derlacki said, adding that no one was found around the RV at the time.
“During the investigation, biological remains were found in the motor home,” the fire official said in a news release.
Due to the extent of damage, darkness and location of the remains, Bend Police began a death investigation.
After the motor home’s occupant returned and the sun rose, officials “determined the remains were, in fact, that of the occupant’s large dog who unfortunately perished in the fire, Derlacki aid.
The fire apparently started from a propane-fired heater left on unattended while the occupant was away, Derlacki said.
“It’s unclear if the heater malfunctioned or if some sort of combustible ignited on or near the heater,” he said.
The motor home and contents were a complete loss, estimated at $4,000.
The fire also caused damage to the TDS fiber-optic lines in that area, causing an outage for TV, Internet and phone customers for several hours.
"We are aware of an outage impacting TDS services for approximately 1,100 customers in Bend due to a vehicle fire early this morning," TDS Associate Manager for Communications Mark Schaaf said. "Crews are actively working to make repairs and restore services as quickly as possible."
Schaaf said shortly before 2 p.m. that service had been restored. You can track their outage reports/updates at https://tdstelecom.com/support/outage.html
