PF&R Responded To Early AM Residential Fire. (Photo) - 05/24/26

PF&R responded to early AM residential fire.

At 4:34 this morning Portland Fire was called to a house fire in the Kenton neighborhood of North Portland. 911 callers reported fire on the front of the house with two potential victims still in the house.

Engine 26 was the first arriving unit and reported heavy fire on the front of the home. Firefighters from Engine 26 immediately stretched hose lines into the house and began an aggressive offensive fire attack while the from Truck 8 entered the home from two separate access points to conduct a search. An occupant was located outside the structure, and he indicated that he had jumped from a second story window to escape the fire and that there was still a person in the house. This occupant was able to give firefighters a probable location of the second occupant. With this information the crew from Truck 8 was able to conduct a targeted search in the given location. Firefighters located the victim and quickly removed him from the house and passed him off to Engine 24 to begin immediate medical care. Firefighters from Engine 24 rode to the hospital with AMR to continue to provide advanced life support measures to the patient. 

While the patient was being transported firefighters continued to attack the fire. Engine 22 brought an additional hose line to the rear of the structure while Truck 22 cut ventilation holes in the roof to help clear smoke and flammable gases from the building. Engine 17 brought a hose line up to the second floor to attack the fire that was in the attic. Multiple holes were cut in the roof and attic walls to access the fire to ensure that there were not any remaining hot spots. 

While firefighters were continuing to fight the fire a second ambulance was called for the occupant that had jumped from the second story window. This patient was transported with non-life-threatening injuries. 

PF&R Training Specialists at Station 2 added themselves and their crew to this incident and responded with the fire engine and fire truck located in the Argay Terrace Neighborhood. This was the first tour of duty for the newest members of PF&R to graduate from the training academy and begin to respond with the training specialists. This designed training pathway allows the newest members to experience significant emergency responses with focused educational intentions and will use these incidents to create a foundation of skills to be continuously honed throughout their career.

Investigators with the Portland Fire Investigations Unit will be working to determine a cause. PF&R shift change occurred while this incident was active with oncoming crews responding to the incident location to relieve the firefighters that began their shift 24 hours earlier on the previous calendar date.

Portland Fire would like to thank our partners at AMR, Portland Police and the local utilities for their assistance at this event.

• PF&R Responders      
  • Station 26 – Engine 26 – 4 members
  • Station 8 – Truck 8 – 4 members
  • Station 24 – Engine 24 and C2 – 5 members
  • Station 22 – Engine 22 and Truck 22 – 8 members
  • Station 17 – Engine 17 – 4 members
  • Station 3 – C2 – 1 member
  • Station 2 – Engine 2 and Truck 2 – 9 members
  • Fire Investigation Unit – 5 members and the Arson K9 member
• Total Responders
  • 40 sworn firefighters
  • One Arson K9 – Kiki - Accelerant Detecting Dog

(Additional information and images will be added to this post as they become available.)

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Victim Update: Roger Woolf, the 69 year old male victim rescued in this incident did not survive the injuries received as a result of this fire. 

Portland Fire Addresses Early Morning Residential Fire. (Photo) - 05/01/26

Portland Fire addresses early morning residential fire.

At 4:57 AM PF&R was dispatched to a possible house fire located at the intersection of SE 30^th Place and SE Stark in the Kerns Neighborhood. First arriving fire company from Engine 9 remarked they could see the glow of the fire from blocks away sizing up the fire upon arrival with the message to all arriving companies the corner home was “well involved with fire”. At this time there were 26 members of PF&R enroute or on scene of this emergency in 4 fire engines, 2 trucks, and 2 chiefs assigned to this emergency.

The command officer directed the crew to protect the exposures with heavy fire impinging on the next-door home located a few feet away. The firefighters pulled a hose line off the engine and positioned themselves in an area that allowed water to flow between the homes to minimize the chances of the fire jumping to the neighboring home. Radio traffic from the pump operator was indicating the water flow was quickly depleting the tank water and access to a fire hydrant supply line from the next arriving engine was of paramount concern. As the radio report from the driver indicating the 500 gallon tank was nearly empty the water supply company transmitted the message “water coming” indicating the fire hydrant had been connected and they were sending water from the water main grid directly into the pumping engine allowing for a continuous supply of water that was used to protect the exposure home. During these initial actions it was obvious the house in question was undergoing a significant remodel project with evidence of the work present in the backyard of the property.

The significant amount of fire in the primary fire structure prevented any interior access to the home involved and all members were working to reduce the flames that were impinging upon the neighboring homes to the North and East of primary fire structure, along with the overhead powerlines to the south that were affected by the body of fire. The fire damage to the home began to compromise the structure with the wall between the homes beginning to fail and lean toward the unaffected home. With the potential of the fire jumping to the neighboring home a second alarm assignment was initiated that placed another 4 fire engines, a truck, an additional chief along with other members of PF&R placing over 50 of the 171 on duty members assigned either on scene or heading toward this incident.

Heavy smoke pushing out of the neighboring home led to a concern that the fire had entered the attic space of this adjacent structure. A second pumping engine was placed into service with fire hose lines being taken to the front door of the home in preparation to address any possible fire problem in this neighboring home. Crews entered the home to find the fire had not yet made entry to any floor nor that attic space so the work at preventing the fire extension was successful and all smoke appearing at the eave line was from the primary fire home.

Under the rubble of the front porch a distinguishable blue colored flame was present indicating the natural gas service line had been ruptured with the free-flowing gas as a fuel for this flame. Crews performed a protective hose line shield to gain access to the service line to stop the flow of gas fueling this flame. NW Natural was called to scene to further address this gas service line issue. NW Natural eventually had to dig into the street to gain access to this gas feeding line to properly clamp the line and stop the flow of gas away from the home in question.

With 1/3 of the on duty 171 members addressing this emergency, the Fire Liaison Officer began to move fire engines from the areas of town unaffected by the response to this house fire to the city core, so responders were available to address the emergencies that continue to occur in the 145 square mile City of Portland. PF&R knows that second’s matter in responding to many emergencies so having available responders located close to emergencies can often be critical in the outcome of any significant emergency. When the unassigned companies were released from this fire, they were directed to check in with the Fire Liaison to learn of their new assigned response location as they may not automatically return to their home station but rather be placed in a different location to best address the incoming dispatched emergency responses.

Thirty minutes into the emergency response the fire was considered under control with the fire being kept to the primary fire structure. There was some exterior damage to the neighboring home to the north and some damage to a deciduous tree in the yard of the fire home. Had we experienced this incident later in the summer, the moisture level in the tree would have been much different and this fire would’ve certainly quickly extended into the crown of the tree and then to the house located across the alleyway to the east.

The heat emanating off the fire caused 3 burns of working firefighters through their protective clothing. The firefighter on the end of the nozzle placed between the fire structure and the exposure home experienced burns on his hands while maintaining his position continuing to flow the water that prevented the flames from entering the neighboring home. His positioning as described by the command officer who had a direct view was the firefighter tucked themselves into the smallest ball possible near the ground using their helmet to shield the heat to the head and continuously applied the water to the exposure home throughout the initial actions taken which is certain to have saved the neighboring home. The two other firefighters experienced similar burns through their clothing based on the extended period required to work in an extremely hot location. Each has been transported to the hospital for a quick evaluation and are all doing well and will not experience extended time off duty due to the injuries sustained while working on this emergency incident.

The heat not only affected the responders but impacted a few PF&R rigs that were on scene with items on three of our response vehicles that also experienced damage due to the heavy heat created from the fire. Engine 23 had many plastic lens covers of their lights melted, a valve cover on the pump panel, and the spider cracking of the rear window of the cab. Engine 9 had their cones melt while resting on the back bumper, and the side view mirror housing of the battalion chief rig was wrinkled due to the heat. Neither fire engine nor the BC rig will be placed out of service due to the damages but will have items replaced today for proper operation to continue. The PF&R Emergency Vehicle Technicians will travel around and ensure that all rigs will operate as designed and expected throughout the day today.

Portland Fire & Rescue is thankful the proper resources to keep this fire to a single structure were available. The moving up of fire companies from areas not affected directly by this fire that had more than 50 on scene but had an additional 24 members moving into areas that were absent of coverage due to the extreme need of a workforce to mitigate the emergency on hand. This nearly 80 members impacted by this single house fire is nearly ½ the on duty staffing on a single emergency. As this fire was closing up, another house fire in the SE part of town drew an immediate 26 firefighters moving in that direction, taking the total to close to 100 members working on 2 incidents across the city. During the time between the initial dispatch of this large 2^nd alarm response in the Kerns Neighborhood and the SE PDX fire tapped out 3 hours later, PF&R responded to an additional 25 emergencies certain to involve nearly each on-duty member throughout this 3 hour period of time.

Although 2 homes were affected by this fire, there will be no additional displacement of the occupants as the home remodel in the primary fire structure has this home unoccupied. The neighboring home is currently unoccupied as well in an attempt at making a home sale with no occupants actively using the home. The cause of the fire is under investigation with the PF&R Fire Investigation Team on scene beginning the long forensic evaluation and interviewing anyone who may be helpful in determining cause.

Portland Fire would like to thank the dispatchers at BOEC for their assistance in managing this dynamic scene. In addition, we would like to thank the assistance provided by PPB in keeping the area free of vehicle traffic while we worked along the traditionally busy SE Stark Street. And not to be overlooked, PF&R would like to thank both PGE and NW Natural for providing us with assistance in managing the utilities during this emergency.

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