Fire burns travel trailer at SE Bend RV park when owners try to thaw frozen hose

Trigger traced to proprietor’s efforts to thaw frozen sewer hose

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 31-foot journey trailer caught hearth Saturday afternoon on the Crown Villa RV Resort in southeast Bend, a blaze that investigators traced to using two heaters to thaw a sewer hose that had frozen in a single day.

Bend Fireplace & Rescue crews have been dispatched round 2:40 p.m. to the reported hearth on the RV park on Brosterhous Highway, Deputy Fireplace Marshal Cindy Kettering stated.

The arrived to seek out the 2018 Weekend Warrior RV ablaze, and although they have been capable of shortly suppress it, the RV and contents have been about 75% misplaced, with an estimated worth of the trailer of $35,000 and contents valued at $15,000.

The trailer house owners, visiting from Texas, weren’t on the property when the hearth broke out, Kettering stated. No accidents have been reported.

An investigation decided the RV’s sewer hose had frozen within the very chilly in a single day circumstances, and the proprietor positioned each an electrical area heater and a small, propane-fueled radiant tank-top heater beneath the trailer to thaw it.

The propane heater was positioned subsequent to the plastic sewer hose and fittings, which melted and ignited, Kettering stated. The fireplace then unfold upwards from beneath the RV into the lavatory space.

„House heaters are a number one reason for residential fires, and one of the harmful issues you are able to do with an area heater is to position it subsequent to something that may burn,“ Kettering wrote in a information launch. „Something that produces warmth wants area round it – this contains fireplaces, woodstoves, baseboards, and area heaters.

„Bend Fireplace & Rescue recommends conserving three toes of area between combustibles and any warmth supply, and to by no means depart heaters working unattended,“ the hearth official added.

For extra info on dwelling heating security, go to https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/fire-rescue/safety-tips-emergency-preparedness/fall-winter-safety-tips.