INCLUDES FIREFIGHTING AFTERMATH VIDEO | Quick response by Portland Fire & Rescue crews kept this garage fire from burning down the entire house …
After an attached garage catches fire, firefighters arrive in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood to extinguish it before it spreads.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
It wasn’t fireworks that set ablaze the garage of a Brentwood-Darlington house on July 5th – in fact the cause has not yet been made public – but a potentially incendiary interaction between residents took place nearby, causing Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews to call for “backup” from Portland Police Bureau East Precinct officers. More about that coming up.
But at 12:03 p.m. that Saturday afternoon, PF&R crews were dispatched to 8015 SE Malden Street after several calls from alarmed neighbors, including the one next door.
Some firefighters stand by as other crew members staunch the fire on the roof and inside the house. Notice how close the neighbor’s garage is the one that was burning.
“I was up in my bedroom having a video chat with my girlfriend when I smelled strong smoke in the house,” next-door neighbor Wayne told East Portland News.
Soon the smoke alarms in his house started sounding. “After checking around inside the house and finding nothing, I went outside and saw smoke rising from the house next door,” Wayne continued. “There was smoke from the garage, but I didn’t see any fire.”
Watch as firefighters put out the garage fire that spread to the attic of the affected house:
“With one hand I called 9-1-1, and with the other I grabbed the garden hose in the front yard and started spraying between their garage, and my own [close-by, freestanding] garage,” Wayne said.
“When another neighbor came by, I handed off the front yard hose to him, went into the back yard, got another hose, and started spraying down that area until the firefighters arrived,” he continued.
Using a water line, threaded through a hole cut in the rear of the roof and out the structure’s side, this firefighter sprays water on the fire in the attic and side wall of the house.
Arriving at the same time, six minutes after being dispatched, were PF&R Woodstock Station 25’s Engine Company and Ladder Truck Company. Engine 25 reported back to dispatch that smoke was indeed coming from the attached garage, and that the garage door was open.
As a contingent of firefighters searched the property for potential victims, others were hooking up water supply lines and pulling hoses to fight the fire.
Upon his arrival, a PF&R Investigator speaks with a residence of the house.
The PF&R Investigator begins to examine the interior of the charred garage.
As mentioned earlier, while a PF&R Battalion Chief took over directing the firefight, a call went out requesting Portland Police Bureau officers at 12:17 p.m. – not to provide “traffic control”, but to deal with “two subjects in an altercation.” Swiftly arriving officers were able to quickly cool down the argument and soon departed.
Although fire personnel quickly stopped the flames in the charred garage, a firefighter reported seeing fire in the attic of the house itself. While it hadn’t spread into the living space, crews pulled down the ceiling under the attic fire and sprayed upward – while Ladder Truck crews cut open the roof, and poured water the flames from above.
With the fire put out, firefighters stand down, and begin to pack up and head back to their respective stations.
By 12:46 p.m., the fire was declared extinguished. There were no reported injuries in this fire. However, the Battalion Chief called for a PF&R Investigator to come to the incident. At this time, no cause for the garage fire has been revealed.
© 2025 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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