This outer East Portland house fire provides a reminder of why to make sure your smoke alarms are working …
When a fire breaks out in the kitchen of this house, just west of SE 82nd Avenue of Roses, firefighters respond and begin fighting the blaze.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Firefighters were dispatched to a Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood home at 6427 SE 81st Avenue, near Duke Street, at 2:21 p.m. on Thursday afternoon when both a resident and a neighbor called the 9-1-1 Center to report a fire in the structure.
Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) Lents Station 11’s Engine Company was the first at the scene; the crew reported seeing smoke from the back of the home. While they hooked up their water lines and prepared to fight the blaze, other arriving crewmembers searched the house for potential victims.
As a couple of crew members exit the front door, another firefighter is heading inside.
At least one resident had been medically evaluated as fire crews arrived, but they directed firefighters to the home’s kitchen.
PF&R Woodstock Station 25’s Ladder Company pulled ladders from their rig, and – chainsaws in hand – stood ready to clamber up to the roof to cut holes for “vertical ventilation”, if it were needed.
An Engine 25 firefighter brings a ladder in case firefighters needed to get on the roof.
As it turned out, the firefighters were able to extinguish the kitchen fire, and contain it to that one room, without it spreading into the rest of the house.
“There is a fire safety message here,” a PF&R Battalion Chief told East Portland News. “That is, ‘Smoke detectors save lives’ – this home’s units were working, and alerted the residents, who were able to safely escape the structure.”
Fire investigators have yet to announce the cause of the fire and offer a damage estimate.
© 2019 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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