Human-caused, wind-fanned fire damages Deschutes County-owned building in downtown Bend
(Update: Adding background about building)
Winds fanned the flames; fire official surmises someone was hanging out, out of wind and cold
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A wind-fanned, human-caused fire early Sunday morning heavily damaged a vacant, nearly 90-year-old downtown Bend building owned by Deschutes County, authorities said.
Bend Fire & Rescue responded around 3:30 a.m. to the reported building fire at 221 NW Lafayette Avenue, Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said.
Crews arrived to find a fire in the attic of the building, built in 1935, being fanned by winds over 30 mph, Derlacki said, but they were able to stop the blaze before it could spread to a nearby church.
The county-owned building, built as a house in 1935, was turned into law offices in the late 1990s but currently is vacant, Derlacki said.
Attorney Lawrence Erwin sold the property to the county in September 2022 for $575,000, property tax records show. County spokeswoman Whitney Hale said it was used as office space until January of this year.
A total of 19 firefighters were on hand, along with eight pieces of apparatus.
Damage was estimated at $100,000, the fire official said, noting that the building was not equipped with fire sprinklers or alarms.
Fire investigators determined the blaze began on the building’s exterior and spread up to the attic, pushed more quickly by the windy conditions.
“The fire is human-caused and the investigation is ongoing,” Derlacki said in a news release.
“The fire originated from an area where someone was hanging out, most likely out of the wind and cold, on the exterior of the building,” the deputy fire marshal added.
Fellow Deputy Fire Marshal Cindy Kettering said, "There was just smoke damage to the interior of it. It did burn the attic, and they they would likely need to do some rebuilding in that area. But I don't think it's a complete loss."
Kettering said there was some minor damage to the church next door, where firefighters had to force entry to make sure the blaze hadn't spread.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction for county-owned buildings downtown, is continuing the investigation, Derlacki said.
Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to contact the county’s non-emergency dispatch number, 541-693-6911.
