Portland Fire was dispatched to a possible car fire at 1142 AM today near the intersection of NE 122 and NE Siskiyou in the Russel Neighborhood.
In a period of 45 seconds while enroute, crews received the following information from the dispatch center: reports of a person on fire in the street, a power line down in the street, unsure if the person is electrocuted, victim still down in the street, another hysterical caller on this says 4 patients here including a baby with someone on fire, three people laying in the street unconscious.
Additional information included there was a power line draped over a vehicle and that the vehicle was on fire and that a community member had grabbed the baby off one of the adults lying in the street for the safety of the child. This was an emotionally heightened situation and crew was preparing for everything based on the range of rapidly updated information being shared by the dispatch center.
PF&R crew arrived to find three individuals in the street located approximately 35’ away from a full-size SUV with a powerline draped over the vehicle with a large tree branch over the top of the powerline resting on the hood of the SUV. Crew members performed initial medical evaluation of all three individuals, two adults and a reported teen, and confirmed they were deceased.
A community member emerged from an adjacent residence with the baby who was evaluated by a PF&R paramedic and found to be unaffected by the situation. The baby was transferred to the care of a transporting ambulance crew who performed more evaluations in the back of the ambulance and transported the baby to the hospital for a full medical evaluation.
There was no water applied to any potential car fire as no flames were present and the vehicle was evaluated by the members present and deemed safe from fire danger. The power company arrived and deenergized the downed powerline for the safety of all around the scene.
The individuals affected were occupants of the SUV and exited the vehicle following the branch bringing the live powerline down upon their vehicle. When the feet of the individuals touched the ground, and their bodies were touching the car they became part of the active electrical circuit which resulted in their deaths. Portland Fire & Rescue would like to remind you to stay inside your vehicle and contact emergency services to have any downed powerline deenergized prior to exiting. Treat all downed lines as live and dangerous and call emergency services.
