Forest Grove Resident Loses Life In Fire (Photo) - 03/30/26

On Saturday March 28th at 12:20am, Forest Grove Firefighters were dispatched to a reported duplex fire in the 2300 block of 12th Avenue. Firefighters arrived five minutes after dispatch to find a single-story duplex with flames coming from the main window on the front of the building. Fire crews attacked the flames from the exterior through the window and then transitioned to entering the structure to complete extinguishment of the fire. In less than a minute of entering the building, firefighters found an unconscious resident and quickly removed them from the structure and continued their extinguishment of the fire and prevented it from spreading beyond the front room of the living unit. Simultaneously, additional fire crews started life saving measures on the resident, unfortunately they were pronounced deceased on scene. The resident was a 67 year old male, next of kin have been notified.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by our Fire Marshal's Office and Forest Grove Police Detective's, which is a standard practice with any fatality in a fire.

It was found the residence did not have working smoke alarms in it. It is important to have your home equipped with smoke alarms in each bedroom and outside each sleeping area. Also remember to test your smoke alarms every month to verify that they are still working.

Forest Grove Fire & Rescue was assisted on scene by Cornelius Fire Department, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Banks Fire District, AMR, Forest Grove Police Department and Washington County Medical Examiner.

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