At just after 12:30 AM Sunday morning, Portland Fire & Rescue respond to reports of a residential fire at a home on the boundary of the Piedmont and Humboldt Neighborhoods on NE Killingsworth and NE Mallory. As radio communication was occurring between assigned rigs, the first engine cleared the air and reported heavy fire was venting through the roof of a vacant and boarded up home.
The first arriving battalion chief took command and made the decision for a defensive fire attack that has crews apply water on the fire from an exterior position. The first arriving engine was able to stretch large diameter hand lines to the sides of the home with potential exposure concerns. With the known condition of the interior of the home due to the repeated fire history of the residence along with much of the roof having been burnt off because of the current fire, both trucks were directed to extend their ladders and prepare to engage the application of water from above. While this is a common tactic for larger commercial structures, it is not a common practice on residential fires. The cut-up condition of the home due to previous fire damage with the stairs having been burnt out, and many holes in the walls and floors, the command officer elected to use the master streams from above to cool and extinguish the flames from the tip of the aerial ladders or the “ladder pipe” nozzles. Firefighters eventually transitioned to a ground level fire attack once the aerial streams had eliminated much of the fire. Crews used their hand-held fire hoses to apply water on any visible fire from the outside of the building.
The crews on scene worked to make sure that all surrounding homes and structures were cleared of residents and protected using water from handheld fire hoses or showering down a from above using a water curtain to protect the structures. Crews eventually entered the fire structure nearly 2 hours into the incident to extinguish some remaining fire that the aerial master streams were unable to access. There were some difficult void spaces to consider in this structure that are difficult to safely access with interior operations and the blocking of the aerial water streams that caused crews to remain on scene for an extended period of time.
All exposure homes were successfully cleared and protected with no damage because of this fire. There was no one displaced as this was a boarded up vacant home. No injuries reported.
Source: Portland Fire & Rescue