Learn about effort it took for firefighters to get this outer East Portland house fire under control …
Firefighters arrive to find this relatively new home, built in 1996 in the Hazelwood neighborhood, engulfed in smoke and fire.*
By David F. Ashton
Reports of smoke and flames issuing from a house on Monday morning, March 17th, deep on a flag lot in the Hazelwood neighborhood at 107 SE 106th Avenue, quickly summoned Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews to that dead-end street at 9:24 a.m.
PF&R Mill Park Station 7’s Ladder Truck Company arrived first, and reported by radio to that they were seeing heavy smoke rising from the residence – which was behind another home facing the street.
The Truck’s officer also asked dispatchers to send an ambulance for a victim visible in the front yard. At the same time, fire crews had made their way to the back side of the house, and noticed significant fire coming from there.
The smoke is thick, as crews lay in water line hoses in the driveway leading back to the flag lot where the burning house is situated.
Crews crawl into the burning house through this window.
Using a short ladder, firefighters entered the house through a window. Inside they found the fire in a single bedroom.
Crews isolated the flames by taking a door from another bedroom off its hinges and sealing the fire room to retard the fire from extending into the remainder of the house.
With fire spreading to the attic, Ladder Truck Company crews are called down off the now-compromised roof.
From both inside and out of the structure, crews sprayed water to extinguish the flames. However, the fire had burned into the attic, undermining the structural integrity of the roof, and keeping Ladder Truck crews from cutting holes there to allow heat and gasses to escape.
However, within ten minutes of the first crew’s arrival, the fire was completely extinguished.
Called heroes by neighbors
By speaking with bystanders, PF&R Investigators learned that two construction workers, across the street, had been first to notice the smoke, and had immediately called 911. They then crossed the street and knocked on the door of the front house to alert the occupant of a fire. This occupant told them the fire was in the home on the flag lot behind.
The overgrown yard of the house on the flag lot made it difficult for rescuers see that it was on fire – at first they thought it was in the house facing the street.
The construction workers and that resident then made their way to the house behind, opened the front door, and were confronted by thick smoke rolling out above their heads – and an occupant visible through the smoke crawling toward the front door a few feet away from them.
The two workers ducked under the smoke, and helped the occupant, and a dog, safely out of the blazing house before fire crews arrived.
Not seeking public attention for calling the fire department and rescuing the occupant, the construction workers disappeared before they could be interviewed, but neighbors saluted them as “true heroes”.
A PF&R paramedic reported that the person rescued from the fire was in stable condition when at the hospital, and vital signs looked promising.
This working smoke detector was taken from the home, still chirping, 15 minutes after the fire was completely extinguished.
‘Smoke alarms save lives’
“It is certain a working smoke detector had alerted the occupant to the fire, and allowed them to begin moving toward the exterior of the home,” PF&R Public Information Officer Rick Graves stated.
“Had this smoke detector not been in working order, the outcome of this fire could have been tragic. Working smoke detectors save lives!”
*Photos courtesy Portland Fire & Rescue
© 2025 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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