At just after 05:45 AM on December 8th, Portland Fire & Rescue crews on the north end of town were dispatched to a possible residential fire on North Willamette Blvd. As crews were en route, the dispatch center updated the addressed structure to be at a different location around the corner from the original address with many call takers fielding calls regarding the fire.
The first company arrived quickly to take command of the fire and reports a four-unit apartment building with residents out front and smoke showing from the street. Two members of the first arriving crew began to investigate the location of the fire and were directed upstairs by a resident who was leaving the structure as they arrived. It is confirmed by this crew that there is active fire in the upstairs apartment of the complex and begin stretching an attack hose line up to the seat of the fire to begin extinguishment.
The first arriving truck is directed for search the building. As the team was searching it was noted that there was a large body of fire on the backside of the building in the ground level apartments directly beneath the crews on the interior of the second-floor unit. The first arriving chief took command at this point upon his arrival and directed crews to take hose lines to the interior of the ground floor unit and begin an offensive fire attack on what was described as a “Four Unit Garden Style Legacy Construction Apartment Building” inside a larger complex with other similar building throughout the property. Along with the interior hose lines, a line was directed to the backside of the fire building to be used for both fire attack and protecting any exposures with structures within the complex. Another fire company was requested by command to have enough bodies on scene to safely extinguish the fire and protect all exposures.
A confirmed attic fire from an exterior officer on scene was reported on the radio as crews were stretching hose lines and moving to the roof to perform vertical ventilation. Command directed the first attack company to begin pulling ceiling in the upstairs unit to provide increased access to the fire in the attic space.
Interior hose lines gained access and suppressed the fire in the attic from the and the main body of fire was extinguished in all the living spaces on both levels of the structure. All searches of the fire building by crews confirmed that all occupants were safely out of the fire building and that command was trying to find these individuals a safe and dry location to be during the remainder of the fire extinguishment process. A medical evaluation made of the residents determined there was no need for any transport, so the ambulance staged at the incident was released.
The incident was closed with the fire under control and all medical evaluations complete. The fire was considered completely extinguished with crews remaining on scene to clean up and replace tools and hose back to the working engines and trucks. This fire is currently under investigation by the Fire Investigation Unit of PF&R.
