Portland Fire crews responded to a residential fire in the Piedmont Neighborhood at 5 PM today. Rush hour traffic conditions made for some challenging road conditions to arrive on the scene.
Upon arrival the first crew indicated there was smoke showing from the residence at the address and the officer took command and directed the crew to go interior and begin an offensive fire attack. Different assignments were given with each arriving rig.
An early report from the interior fire attack crew was the fire was extinguished as a table on the inside of the home was on fire and this was addressed. What the interior crew did not know was that the fire had started in the wall and material had dropped from a wall and ignited the table. This fire in the wall was beginning to breach the siding of the house and could be seen by the command staff on the outside of the home.
Command redirected crews to search the home, get into all levels and evaluate for fire extension, and eliminate power and gas to the structure while redirecting the interior fire attack crews to work on the fire in the wall. The walls were exposed, and all fire was eliminated quickly without the fire extending into the upper floor of the home, saving much of the livable space.
The fire was determined to be caused by electrical wiring in the walls by the Portland Fire Investigations Unit. There were no injuries reported. Two adults will be displaced. With the time of day calling for many neighbors to be out and investigating the scene, the fire crews were able to interact and even present some safety messaging to the younger children in the neighborhood after the fire was extinguished.
