Portland Fire & Rescue High Rise Response (Photo) - 12/15/25
Portland Fire & Rescue High Rise Response
Last Monday afternoon, Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a potential high-rise fire at the Fox Tower in the downtown core, where most of our high-rise structures are located. Prior to crews’ arrival, 911 callers made multiple reports of heavy black smoke coming out of the building from vents on what appeared to be the 3rd floor.
Our first arriving engine confirmed smoke in the area as they arrived on scene. The officer on this engine gave a size-up report to all responding companies: “Engine 4 has arrived at a 27-story high-rise building with smoke visible in the area. This is a high-rise incident, announce your arrival and assume your assignment based on your run order.” There is a bit to unpack about the meaning of this size-up that we will address below.
The smoke was found to be caused by a mechanical malfunction of equipment housed in the building and there was no fire problem, no damage to the building, nor was there any threat to the occupants. We have attached an image to show what was seen by the community members who reported this potential emergency.
With the recent tragic multi-building high-rise fire in Hong Kong, PF&R wanted to share a bit about how we address the unique challenges presented by the over 300 high-rise structures in the City of Portland. We also want to share with the community that due to our Fire Marshal’s Office (FMO) enforcement of Portland Fire Code and the evacuation and floor warden training our Public Education Office (PEO) provides to building occupants and management, it is very unlikely that we would ever experience a multi-building high-rise fire with so many casualties in the City of Portland.
We define a high-rise building as one that is 7 stories or greater; many of these buildings are tall enough that our 100-foot aerial ladders will not make it to the rooftop. Any fire issues above the 7th story generally must be addressed from the interior of the building, rather than by utilizing aerial ladders.
Fire prevention and mitigation in a high-rise begins before the structure is even built. The Fire Marshal’s Office has specialized Fire Inspectors embedded within the Portland Permitting and Design (PP&D) Office and these individuals work as a team to ensure that the building design follows fire and building codes that are established for the safety of future occupants of the buildings. Considerations of egress, internal fire suppression systems, communication systems, and materials used in construction along with apparatus access and water supply are all a part of this process. In addition to being involved in the design portion of construction, our Fire Inspectors regularly inspect these buildings once they are constructed and occupied to ensure all safety features are in place and operational. This includes the alarm system, communication system, fire pumps, sprinkler systems, and standpipes.
PF&R’s policies and procedures regarding high-rise fire incidents have evolved markedly over the last decade. With increased awareness of the unique challenges posed by high-rises and after review of high-rise fires worldwide, PF&R Chief Officers formed a committee whose purpose was to update the strategies and tactics used to address these incidents. The result was the formulation of a new high-rise response plan.
The first item that was recognized was that more on-scene PF&R resources are required to sufficiently address high-rise incidents. High rise fires present unique problems to firefighters accustomed to operating at ground level. The common fire problems of access, rescue, fire control, exposure protection, ventilation, and personnel safety are magnified due to the size, height, and potential high occupancy loads present in high rise buildings. This requires more firefighters on scene to address these concerns. PF&R sends 4 engines, 2 ladder trucks, and 2 chief officers to a residential or commercial fire as a first alarm assignment; but if a potential fire incident occurs within a structure categorized as a high-rise, PF&R now sends 7 engines, 3 trucks, a heavy rescue squad, a high-rise focused squad, and 3 Chief Officers.
The initial roll-out of the high-rise plan introduced a task-based assignment system based on the unit arrival order to an incident. These predetermined tasks for each arriving crew allow all firefighters to know exactly what their task is upon their arrival, without any additional direction needed from the incident commander. Because a high-rise can hide significant smoke and fire that may not be visible from the exterior, the predetermined task-based system ensures there are enough people on scene carrying out the necessary actions to address the specific situation at hand. This fosters a safe, effective, and accountable operation that provides the best opportunity to carry out our primary mission: saving lives and property.
PF&R recently revisited the high-rise protocol and determined that by learning from other incidents, we could improve our response plan and as a result, the entire plan was overhauled and revised. In conjunction with these changes, PF&R performed nearly three months of training in 2024, using the US Bancorp Tower. All our crews participated in this training and members of surrounding jurisdictions were invited to participate as well. This mutual aid training not only introduced how we operate to our neighbors, but also was a catalyst to these other fire departments in reevaluating their high-rise plans.
With this new protocol in place, it’s important that our crews continually train until the protocol becomes second nature. When responding to a suspected high-rise fire incident, the chief officers are requiring the entire high-rise protocol be followed until all crews are in their preassigned locations. This “practice as we actually operate” mindset allows us to function effectively should a large-scale high-rise fire incident occur in our response area. Early in the training of our firefighters, we teach our newer members to always expect fire on every call and to never let your guard down; this high-rise protocol and practice is an extension of this lesson.
On top of our constant practice in addressing high-rise incidents, PF&R uses information gathered from other significant events to evaluate how we can better prevent high-rise fires. With the recent 150+ lives lost in the Hong Kong fire, our FMO Prevention Division Training Officer put together a 3-page document with fire prevention lessons learned from this incident. This document included built-in exercises for our Fire Inspectors in the field so they can use this incident to improve the efficacy of their fire inspections in high-rises city-wide.
While we know that all these efforts and training cannot guarantee we won’t experience a high-rise fire incident in Portland, we hope that this information provides some comfort to those that work in, reside in, or occasionally occupy high rise buildings in the City. If there is a desire to do a more in-depth story on our high-rise response, please connect with the PF&R Public Information Officer.
