At 12:35 this afternoon fire broke out in an apartment building located at 2526 SE Harrison street in Milwaukie. First arriving crews found a third story apartment with fire coming out of two sides of the building. They quickly laddered the structure to contain the fire that had also reached the common attic as firefighter climbed the stairs to the 3rd story to extinguish the fire. The fire was quickly knocked down but was traveling in the attic to the other apartments. The interior crews were able to pull the ceiling in the apartment and stop the spread of fire before it could consume another. A search was performed while crews were extinguishing the fire and everyone was out of the entire apartment complex. No one was injured and fire investigators are on scene to determine a cause. The occupants of the apartment were home at the time but said one cat was unaccounted for and they are getting assistance from the Red Cross.
Milwaukie police had officers on scene before fire arrived and they began to evacuate the apartment building. They first saw one person who was unable to get out and was hanging from a 3rd story window. A Milwaukie Police Officer and a bystander quickly found a ladder on a pick up truck in the parking lot and raised it to the person. He was able to climb down the ladder on his own. The other officers went door to door even breaking down doors to evacuate people and pets.