Fast response beats down Hazelwood house fire

Here’s what’s known about this outer East Portland blaze …

How the residential fire started in this Hazelwood structure, and how much damage it did, are not yet established – but quick work of firefighters saved this house from being completely burned out.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

Just four minutes after a residential fire ignited in a single-family house at 222 NE 99th Avenue, dispatched at 2:48 p.m. on Wednesday, January 20, the first Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews had already arrived.

The first-responding crews radioed to dispatchers seeing smoke coming from the house. Soon, five PF&R Engine Companies had arrived at the fire, a half-block north of East Burnside Street.

A PF&R Battalion Chief confers with firefighters, after the blaze is extinguished.

“I don’t think anyone was home,” neighbor Bill Mac told East Portland News. “I didn’t see the fire; it was all the trucks coming in and the firefighters running around that caught my attention.”

A PP&R Battalion Chief would reveal little about the fire, other than that it was put out quickly – and that there were no injuries to either residents or firefighters.

After crews make sure the fire has been completely quenched, they proceed to the “overhaul” of the burned residence while waiting for the arrival of a Fire Inspector.

At 3:48 p.m., a PP&R Fire Investigator pulled in. But, so far, Fire Bureau officials have revealed nothing about this fire; we must assume it is still under investigation.

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