WITH VIDEO: See firefighters battle this blaze | Living in a house without any electrical service may be what led to this fire, officials say …
It wasn’t a false alarm: Portland Fire & Rescue crews find this Lents neighborhood house fully engulfed in flames when they arrive.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Multiple calls to the 9-1-1 Center on Wednesday morning, April 20, resulted in many Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) units to be dispatched at 11:15 a.m. to a house at 6417 SE 84th Avenue – just north of Duke Street – where flames were licking out of a front doorway.
As PF&R Lents Station 11’s Engine Company and Rescue 11 crew pulled up, three minutes after being dispatched, they reported seeing the house “fully involved in fire”.
Water shoots from an upper story window, as a firefighter sprays a strong stream of water onto the burning wall.
A minute later, these firefighters, accompanied by crews from PF&R Westmoreland Station 20, and both of Woodstock Station 25’s Engine and Ladder Truck Companies. Eventually, eleven units, including ambulances, were at the scene.
“Crews found a one and a half story home with a basement in ‘heavy fire involvement’,” reported PF&R Public Information Officer Terry Foster. “Initial reports were that several people live in the home and it was uncertain whether everyone was out,” Foster noted. In light of this information, additional ambulances were called to the scene.”
Firefighters make a plan to search the structure for hidden fire.
A firefighter from Engine 11 contacted a resident who said that everyone had escaped the structure, which now an inferno. “Although the information was most likely credible, as a standard practice we do a complete search of the structure, in case someone was missed,” Foster explained.
Crews made a full-on attack of the fire, both inside the residence and out. A Ladder Truck crew clambered up to the roof to cut “vertical ventilation” holes to vent hot combustible gasses. Inside, firefighters made their way to the/attic and hosed down the room.
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“The fire took a little longer to completely extinguish, because the fire reached into void spaces in the upper cockloft and roof areas,” said Foster.
A neighbor told East Portland News that she was concerned that perhaps not all of the occupants had escaped the burning building; and whether their pets had also been saved. One occupant was seen, sitting on the sidewalk across the street, wrapped in a blanket, cradling a dog.
About her, Foster remarked, “One resident had minor burns on a hand; and was treated in an ambulance by paramedics, but refused transport.”
Although there was an electric power cable attached to the house, officials say the electricity had been disconnected.
It wasn’t long until a PF&R Fire Investigator arrived, and learned that the residence’s electrical power had been cut off. “The residents were using candles to keep warm.Tthe unattended candle turned out to be the cause of the fire,” Foster disclosed.
“The Fire Safety Message here, is this: Candles start thousands of fires each year, PF&R reminds all residents: Never leave burning candles unattended,” noted Foster
© 2022 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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