Portland Firefighters Tackled Three Fires in 30 Minutes
Firefighters from Portland Fire & Rescue were called to three different fires in just 30 minutes on Monday evening. PF&R says they were first called to the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood in SE Portland because two homes were on fire.
“With at one point four separate structures on fire, crews were assigned with the top priority in mind to address the situation at hand. Within 10 minutes the bulk of the fire in each home had been extinguished allowing crews to focus on each detached garage unit. Within 20 minutes all fire was controlled with crews addressing small spot fires in each structure,” officials said.
Five people were forced to leave their homes, according to PF&R. While the crews were there, two other fire calls came in, which meant that almost half of the on-duty staff in PF&R were attending to fires. Crews were called to another house fire near SE 66th Avenue and SE Duke just after 8:30 p.m.
“The first engine arrived to find two single-story homes on fire. One of the houses had significant fire activity with fire showing on the two sides of the structure. The second home had a reduced amount of active fire in the front with most fire present on the backside of the structure. The command officer directed arriving crews to perform an offensive fire attack on each home with backup protection lines to follow,” PF&R said. “The first arriving truck was directed to search the primary structure with reports of an elderly female possibly still inside. Quick radio reports indicated heavy fire in what was called the primary fire home along with the detached garage.”
Fire officials said that over 50 firefighters were sent to the scene of the fire because there were three buildings on fire and neither home had been fully searched. This led to a second-alarm fire assignment.
Portland Fire & Rescue responded to several fires on Monday evening:
Portland Fire & Rescue responded to several fires on Monday evening.
— FOX 12 Oregon (@fox12oregon) November 28, 2023
PF&R said that most of the fire was out in 10 minutes, and searches of both buildings showed that neither home had anyone living in it. Then, firefighters were sent to what they thought was a home fire in the Powell-Gilbert neighborhood.
However, it turned out to be a small fire outside that only needed one engine, according to officials. But before firefighters got there, there was another fire at a home care facility in the Eliot neighborhood.
“The first arriving station noted a very small fire problem and cleared all other responders. With a second alarm assignment and two separate single alarm fires, there were over 80 Portland Fire & Rescue members working or responding to fire incidents within the city,” PF&R said. “As the other fires were being addressed, the second alarm multiple structure fire on SE 66th Ave. was winding down. Just after the 20-minute timer all major fire had been extinguished with crews focusing on hot spots.”
No one in the building or on the firemen was hurt.
