Basement fire damages Lents home

Here’s what’s known about this outer East Portland house fire; it looks like it did some damage …

Some fire crews stand by, while those from other fire bureau stations work inside this fire-damaged Lents neighborhood house.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

The homeowners were away when the fire started, in a house at 3636 SE 84th Avenue on Wednesday afternoon, September 25. Neighbors called the 9-1-1 Center to report smoke coming from the residence.

Unfortunately, those who reported the fire gave the location as SE 84th Avenue and Lafayette Street, but Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews saw the smoke further south, issuing from a structure closer to SE Rhone Street, when they arrived in the area at 1:42 p.m. that afternoon.

With fire axe in hand, a Lents Station 11 firefighter heads back into the house in the Lents neighborhood, where a fire, which reportedly started in the basement, caused considerable damage.

Lents Station 12’s Engine Company was the first at the scene; crew members began setting up water lines while Station 11’s Rescue crew searched the home for potential victims.

“No one was in the structure,” a firefighter at the scene told East Portland News.

At the side of the house, firefighters confer with the Battalion Chief about what they saw inside during the blaze.

The fire reportedly started in the basement, and extended upward to the main floor of the single-story structure. Firefighters from Mill Park Station 7’s Ladder Truck Company cut “vertical ventilation” holes in the roof, allowing hot and potentially toxic gasses to escape, while other crew members attacked the fire.

It didn’t take long to knock down the fire. A PF&R Investigator came to the scene at 2:11 p.m. to look into the cause. At this time, neither the cause of the blaze, or the estimate of damages caused, have been released to the public.

© 2019 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™

 

 

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