Portland Fire & Rescue officials have said very little, so far, about this deadly outer East Portland residential blaze …
After zigzagging through a maze of narrow, dead-end streets in the Parkrose Heights neighborhood, firefighters found their way to a house engulfed in flames.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
In the pre-dawn hours of Monday, August 10, a fire broke out in a Parkrose Heights home in the 2600 block of NE 107th Avenue, near NE Russell Court.
Moments before Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews were dispatched at 5:10 a.m., neighbors reported hearing an explosion coming from the direction of the house.
“It sounded lie a bomb going off; it shook us out of bed!” said neighbor Louise Jacobs.
An ambulance arrives to transport at least one patient to the hospital.
“We could see the glow of fire a couple of houses down the street,” Jacobs told East Portland News. “A young man looked to be trying to put out the fire with a garden hose, but the fire was really going strong.”
Another neighbor reportedly helped a 93-year-old female resident, found just inside the front door of the house, to safety – just as the first PF&R engine company arrived to fight the fire. Neighbors also said firefighters then helped a man, in his sixties, to safety as well.
In the light of day, a second fire investigator arrives at the scene of this fatal fire.
It took some time for fire crews to get the blaze under control; fire engines remained at the scene for several hours, as did two PF&R Investigators.
At 7:08 a.m. that morning, a PF&R official Tweeted:
“Fire crews have extinguished the house fire. One adult female patient transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries & One adult male fatality. Our hearts go out to the family impacted by this tragedy. Cause is under investigation.”
So far, PF&R has revealed no “fire safety messages” related to this fire.
The result of that fire investigation has yet to be made public by the Fire Bureau.
© 2020 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
click here to subscribe
