Air conditioner fire damages house in East Portland

This fire is a reminder to check your A/C system, as we enter the hot summer months in outer East Portland …

Firefighters from PF&R Lents Station’s Engine Company #11 play out their hose lines along the street on their way to this fire.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

A residential fire on the official first day of summer – Wednesday afternoon, June 21 – dispatched Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews to a house at 3731 SE 71st Avenue, at 1:55 p.m.

The PF&R Woodstock Station #25’s Ladder Truck Company arrived first; but alas, they carry no hoses nor water. The rig’s lieutenant reported to confirmed to Dispatch that a smoke column was visible, and that this was indeed a “working” fire. Those firefighters readied themselves to search the house for anyone still inside.

As they arrive, firefighters see smoke bellowing up from behind the house. PF&R image

The ever-busy crews with Lents Station #11’s Engine Company transmitted their “On Scene” response a minute later. They’d briefly stopped on their way, at the corner of SE Center Street, to drop off a crew member who hooked up a water hose line up to the hydrant. The engine drove north to the fire scene spooling the hose line off the back of the truck.

Within the next minute, three additional PF&R apparatus and crew arrived and joined in the firefight behind the structure along with the Engine Company 11 firefighters.

After the initial fire is extinguished, these Ladder Truck crew members cut open the roof to access the attic, and work with firefighters inside the house to check for hidden fire. PF&R image

“This fire was reported to be an exterior fire — but crews discovered that it had possibly extended into the structure’s attic space,” PP&R Public Information Officer Rick Graves told East Portland News later that day.

Because a resident had said that thir fire started in their air conditioning unit behind the house, we asked Graves to confirm this. “This was an exterior fire, associated with the A/C unit; but, fire got into the attic, so interior damage occurred as well. Crews were pulling down ceiling in the interior to gain access to the attic space.”

This Engine Company 11 firefighter carries in a unit to shoot “Class-A Foam” that quenches remaining embers so the fire doesn’t rekindle.

The PF&R Fire Investigator who partners with the accelerant-sniffing dog “Kiki” was called to the scene, Graves reported. “No one was injured; and, this fire remains under investigation.”

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