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A kitchen fire led to an apartment fire in Forest Grove that injured two people Friday night.
Investigators say frozen french fries were being cooked in hot oil which caused the fire.
The apartments are located in the 1700 block of 19th Avenue.
While responding, it was reported that someone was reported that someone was trapped upstairs. A 2nd Alarm was dispatched.
Crews arrived minutes later and found a two story house with flames and smoke showing from the first floor. They also discovered that no one was trapped in the structure and focused their efforts on fighting the flames.
They were able to extinguish the flames on the first floor, but discovered the flames had spread to the second floor and attic through the walls.
Firefighters had a hard time accessing stairs to the second floor, because they were located outside. The building was a house converted to apartments and not a single family dwelling like previously believed.
Firefighters were able to access the second floor and extinguish the flames, but had a difficult time getting to the flames in the attic.
At the same time it was discovered that the roof on a neighboring auto repair shop had started fire. Because of a second building on fire, a third alarm was dispatched to bring in additional firefighters. The fire on the auto shop was stopped at a very small size.
It took firefighters an hour to extinguish the fire and another hour and a half to put out hot spots and salvage valuables.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but appears to have started in the kitchen in the first floor apartment where a resident was cooking frozen fries in oil. That resident sustained burn injuries and was transported to a Portland burn center by Metro West Ambulance. A resident from the second floor apartment received care on scene for smoke inhalation, but didn't go to a hospital.
Firefighters warn that when cooking with oil to never add food to it with water or ice on it. The steam produced has small amounts of oil mixed in and can create a large fire ball. Also always have a fire extinguisher placed in your kitchen.