Barn burns near Tumalo Cloverdale volunteers arrive with tender

A barn burned down northwest of Tumalo early Monday and officials are still investigating the cause.

At 6:09 a.m., an emergency caller reported a 30-by-40-foot barn was on fire in the 65500 block of Tweed Road. No animals were inside, but the building contained a tractor, forklift and backhoe worth about $100,000.

The Bend Fire Department responded with two engines and 15 firefighters.

The lost building was valued at about $40,000. The property is owned by Joe and Rose Demeyer, according to county property records. The Demeyers ran a dairy farm in Redmond for three decades, retiring in 2006, according to Bulletin archives.

The Bend Fire Department was assisted on the call by volunteers with the tiny neighboring Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District, which only recently updated its mutual aid agreement with Bend, according Dave Howe, battalion chief for Bend Fire.

With no hydrants near Tumalo, assistance from Cloverdale was critical, Howe said.

“It worked out really well, because they showed up right away with a water tender, and that was just what we needed.”