A fire in a home in northeast Bend’s Orchard District in the early hours of Wednesday left the property’s basement heavily damaged. The homeowner and her pets managed to escape the blaze unharmed.

The fire in the 1100 block of Northeast Penn Avenue occurred at about 1 a.m., according to Bend Fire & Rescue. Smoke alarms in the home woke a resident and her two dogs. The resident smelled smoke, called 911 and fled the home with her pets.

The fire, located in the basement of the home, was extinguished by fire crews in 15 minutes. The resident reported leaving an unattended candle burning in the basement area when she went to bed at 11:30 p.m. The candle was reportedly left in direct contact with a wooden table. The estimated building loss is $75,000 and the estimated contents loss is at $20,000.

Working smoke detectors in the basement and main living area were a life-saver in this incident, Bend Fire & Rescue said. The department says the incident should encourage others to test their smoke alarms. Bend Fire & Rescue has a free smoke alarm program and will come to your home to assess your alarms. Call 541-322-6300 or go on the Bend Fire website for more information.

Bonta Gelato’s newest location on Galveston Avenue is temporarily closed as it makes repairs to damage caused when an impaired driver drove into the shop.

The driver, whom police didn’t identify, was uninjured and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants, according to Sheila Miller, communications manager at Bend Police Department.

The incident took place late Tuesday evening or during the early morning hours Wednesday.

In an email to The Bulletin, Corey Owens, CEO of Bonta, said, “The Galveston Avenue location just opened in May, so we’re extra disappointed to see its doors closed so soon, but we’re hard at work finding ways to continue serving the community during repairs. Fortunately, no production happened at the Galveston Avenue location. All of our gelato is made at our creamery on Wilson Avenue.”

The gelato shop’s two other Bend locations on Wilson Avenue and in downtown Bend remain open and there is not yet a timeline for the reopening of the Galveston scoop shop, as the damage caused was fairly extensive, Owens said.

Bonta is also working on opening a fourth location in Redmond on Badger Avenue in September.