This morning at 5:48 AM Portland Firefighters were called to a fire at the Roseway Theater. When firefighters arrived they found a building filled with dark black smoke. Command immediately called for a second alarm.
Fire crews forced entry into the building and began searching for the fire, however the floor began to collapse and fire began burning through the roof. This forced command to pull crews back outside and to fight the fire from the exterior or defensively.
Firefighters used aerial ladder trucks to pour water into the building in an effort to extinguish the fire and to keep it from spreading to adjoining businesses. In order to ensure adequate resources were available fire commanders called for a third alarm.
At its peak there were over 80 fire personnel working on this fire. PGE and NW Natural were called to the scene to make fire affected utilities safe. There were no reports of injuries associated with this fire.
At this time the fire is under control, but firefighters are continuing to cool hot spots. Fire investigators are on scene, but must wait for the scene to stabilize before they are able to dig through the fire debris in search of a cause. Crews will likely be on scene throughout the day and the investigation will likely take several days at least.
City crews were called to mitigate the water runoff caused by the firefighting efforts.
Events like these force Portland Fire & Rescue to further stretch firefighting resources and they ask the public to be especially vigilant as recent weather poses a significant risk for fires to start and spread quickly.
