At approximately 10 pm tonight, PF&R crews were dispatched to an apartment fire at the Emmons Place Apartments in the Pearl District for a reported apartment fire in a 4th floor apartment in the north tower.
The first crews arrived on scene two minutes after dispatch and upon entering the 4th floor of the building three minutes later, crews reported smoke in the hallway and water streaming out from under the door of an apartment unit. Firefighters entered the apartment and reported it was full of thick, black smoke from floor to ceiling and noted it had high levels of clutter. They saw a sprinkler head flowing water and active fire on the kitchen counter, extending to the cabinets, that wasn’t yet extinguished by the sprinkler system.
Within the space of approximately one minute after entry into the apartment unit, firefighters both extinguished the fire and, upon performing a primary search of the apartment, found an unconscious victim in a room just past the kitchen. Crews carried the victim out of the apartment and another crew immediately began performing emergency medical treatment on the patient, including a Cyanokit, a common treatment for severe smoke inhalation that mitigates the effects of cyanide in the bloodstream. The patient became increasingly responsive during treatment by firefighters and was transported by ambulance to the Oregon Burn Center with potentially life-threatening injuries.
An investigator from PF&R’s Fire Investigations Unit originally stated that this kitchen countertop fire was accidental in nature and did not involve the stovetop. Upon further investigation, FIU Investigators are unable to determine if stovetop was definitively involved in fire, but stovetop burner was on when firefighters extinguished the countertop fire.
