Bend, Ore. -Early this morning the Bend Fire Department responded to a structure fire at 185 SW Shevlin-Hixon Dr. The first arriving crews found the front of the 2 story commercial structure (an office building) on fire, with fire coming from the 1st floor and extending up to the 2nd floor via an exterior balcony. The crews were able to knock down the fire and stop its forward progress within 15 – 20 minutes of initial arrival.
The fire caused a total of $265,000 in damage to the building and contents.
The fire was purposely set and started inside Suite 111. A suspect, a 47 year old transient, was identified and charged by the Bend Police Department in connection with the incident.
While this building was not required by code to have a fire alarm system or fire sprinkler system at the time it was constructed, it is important to note that had a sprinkler system been installed and maintained, damage would likely have been confined to just a single suite, rather than all three tenants. Additionally, a fire alarm system would have provided the earliest possible notification of the fire, dispatching fire crews while the fire was still relatively small in size.
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