Breaking news this noon at SW
14th and Taylor, that's where
we can find our Blair best.
She's been on scene since it happened
around 10:30 this morning. BlaiI
know you're standing by right nw
with I believe you said a tenant
is there with you too.
Yes, that's right. Christine,
I just met Damian here
and he actually woke up to smoke and flames.
Tell us. What happened this morning? So
I woke up this morning,
the whole house was filled
with smoke in my apartment.
And I thought, you know,
something was gone, been going .
And I walk out and there was sme
coming out of every other apart,
smoke coming up from downstairs.
It seemed like the third
floor kind of lit on fire.
And when I got downstairs,
the fire apartment just showed up and
there was fire coming out of the windows,
the windows exploding.
I just watched it get worse and worse.
Every time the water would
kind of shut something down,
another fire would burst up.
It's been going on for about an hour now.
Yeah. And you just moved into
this building. I just moved
in about like a month or two ag.
I just moved to Portland.
I decided to get a vintage apart
and then the lighting on fire.
So, you know, there's not too
much you can do about everythin.
Can you point to us where exacty
your apartment building is?
Or that corner building right
there where the corner is on the
other side? So when I walked over there,
I can see my windows that
aren't even filling with flames.
So I'm pretty sure
my roofs caved in.
I'm pretty sure my apartment's .
Everything I own is gone.
So it's not too much you can do.
Someone's handing us masks
because of all of the smoke.
Yeah, there's a ton of smoke coming out.
I wasn't holding the microphone when you
were telling us where your apartment is.
Can you tell us again?
My Yeah. So I'm on
the corner right here,
not the corner building,
but the one right next to it.
So it's it's on the side.
So you you can already see the fight,
the flames coming from where my apartment is.
It's kind of just everything.
The whole top floor is destroye.
It's it's an older building so you know
it makes sensitive burst into flames.
It's all made of wood,
right? And and do you know of
anyone that you know who hasn'tn
rescued or that was inside or du
feel bad? My, my neighbor lives on the
4th floor across down the hall from me.
She's at work right now I'm
pretty sure and her out her whoe
building is all engulfed in fla.
She had cats and everything.
So I feel like her cats are
probably gone. So
all right Peter, the cats.
Well, thank you, Damian,
and stay safe and I'm so sorry.
Thank you. I appreciate you guy.
Thanks for, you know,
welcome to Portland, I guess.
I'm so sorry that happened to Christine.
It's just pretty devastating out
here to hear some of these stor.
Oh, wow. Yeah, Damien's story.
As well as Mike Benner,
who talked about the tenant
that he spoke to who saw yeah,
smoke like Damien did,
just filling the hallway,
filling their place.
Blair, for people who
are just tuning in now,
unsure of what's going
on in downtown Portland,
can you recap a little
bit of what you know?
Yeah, so Christine,
this fire started around 10:30 s
morning at an apartment building on the
corner of Southwest Taylor and SW 14th St.
We got here when crews arrived and fire
quickly took over the entire building.
Like Damian was saying,
it's an older apartment buildin.
Might be some of the reason fire crews
are pointing to some of the reas
that the fire spread so quickly.
Fire crews were rescuing
people when we arrived.
They rescued 4 people out of the building.
There was an explosion shortly r
which shattered many of the win,
and some of the glass fell on of
the firefighters cutting his he.
So there's been one minor
injury that we know of so far.
We don't know of any other injuries or if
there's been any deaths from this fire.
We were told that when fire
crews had to evacuate,
they hadn't yet finished.
Checking the entire building to
see if anyone else was inside,
I'm not sure if that effort
has been completed or not.
What I can tell you is that I se
about five or six large ladder
trucks just pouring water down o
the top of the building because
we're told the roof has collaps.
I don't know if you can see that there.
We're watching flames just shoot
out of the top of the building.
And the smoke,
as you and Rod mentioned that yu
can see for miles, we can definitely.
Feel the heat from the flames and it's
sort of hard to breathe down he.
There's people passing out
masks for us to wear.
It all happens rather quickly.
It's a very hectic and atmosphere down here.
Firefighters were running back and forth.
One crew was handing out
Gatorades to the others,
they were taking off their
jackets due to the heat.
It's just it's a pretty hectic
and and wild scene down here,
Christine.
Okay Blair, thank you for keepis
updated on what is happening ag.
A huge fire happening at SW 14td
Taylor. You can see now from our
camera or Eric Patterson I belie
behind the camera there lookingn
at I4O5 closed in both directio.
Portland Fire says it's closed n
both directions because of all
the smoke that is in the area.
That is also limiting visibilit.
Now this is a shot from I belie.
Around Jefferson and 15th or so.
And like I said,
I-405 closed in both directionse
to that big apartment fire happg
down the street from our KGW st.
At SW 14th and Taylor,
and since we're on the topic of
transportation and I4 O 5 being
shut down in both directions
in this particular area,
I also want to let you know that
TriMet has also said that the Mx
Blue and Red lines are disrupted
due to fire trucks blocking the
tracks near Providence Park.
At the moment they've got shuttle buses
that are serving the stations between
Goose Hollow Southwest Jefferso.
And Library Galleria.
So if you're riding the Max,
if you're riding public transportation,
definitely expect delays.
Also if you're driving in the area because
of the huge response from fire trucks.
At one point Blair had mentione,
I know, more than a dozen crews.
In terms of engines on scene
trying to contain this fire,
because of all that,
if you're driving in the area
of SW 14th and Taylor,
also expect delays for streets in that area,
maybe three block radius or
so to be shut down.
So you'll want to take other side streets.
Now you can see on your screen s
is a four alarm apartment fire.
I know that's kind of hard to get your
brain around when you know you're not
working in the fire service at .
But that just means it is an intense fire.
It is extreme.
And right now,
fire crews are trying to get a handle on it.
All morning long we've seen smoke billowing
out of that building at 14th and Taylor.
We know that it is apartment building.
It's called the May Apartments.
If you're familiar with the are,
it is right across the street
from Lincoln High School.
So this is the May apartments
we're talking about.
Underneath is a place called
the West Side Market.
A lot of Lincoln High School students will
sometimes go there, get a snack or two.
During their break or lunch.
So that is kind of some context
as to where this is happening.
Again, this fire broke out aroud
10:30 in the morning,
multiple fire crews on scene,
many of them with their ladders
extended from their engines,
pouring water over this fire,
trying to get a handle on it all
we know so far because they're
all very busy trying to make sue
they can get that fire out.
We know that four people
have been rescued so far.
One firefighter got got injured.
We don't know the extent of
his injuries necessarily,
but we know that it had to do with maybe
some blown out or falling glass of some sort.
Portland Fire has told their crs
their vehicles to move away froe
building because of the danger d
the possibility that the buildi.
Could collapse. So a very danges
scene at SW 14th and Taylor,
I know our Rod Hill is standing.
He's been able to give us better
context about the wind and the t
and how that is playing a role s
firefighters try to fight this .
Well, thank you, Christine.
I think we're starting to
transition into a different phae
in terms of the smoke becoming.
An increasing hazard for folks
somewhat in the media area,
our Rose City camera does show t
the the smoke has been pushed te
South due to a light north wind flow all
the way down over the Hawthorne Bridge.
And actually we're starting to
see smoke at work its way all te
way down into the South waterfrt
and up on the Markham Hill.
From the vantage point that I he
looking at our Rose City camera looking
live right there of all the watr
continue to be put on this fire.
As the firefighters start to to
to cool down the overall fire,
we're not getting the vertical
billowing of the smoke plume.
When that was happening,
it was keeping the smoke pretty much at
1000 feet or higher for quite a while.
And we had very little visible smoke in
the air that was down low where people
would be traveling and then walg
and and quite frankly even watc.
From a distance,
but now you can see clearly down
toward the Hawthorne Bridge and
getting down toward the the watr
for South waterfront down there.
That smoke is starting to settle down
and many more locations down lo,
so not a good idea to be out
walking around this if you see e
reduced visibility in your area.
Christine, back to you.
Yeah, good points for sure.
And even though the smoke isn't,
as you know, billowing like
straight up as it was before,
definitely an impact on people in the area.
In fact, standing in the studio right now,
I can smell the smoke.
So it is definitely,
I can't even imagine the peopleo
are outside near that fire right now.
We want to go to our Blair best
stationed near SW 14th and Tayl.
That is where
this huge apartment fire
is currently burning.
Blair, I know you've got the P
I/O on standby with you right n.
Now I can't wait to hear a litte
bit more about what's going
on and what they can tell us.
Yes, Christine, we're here with Rick Graves,
the PIO at Portland Fire and Re.
And Rick, can you just give us an update
and where do things stand right now? You
know, we've gone to a fourth al,
so we've requested more
crews to show up to aid.
We're cycling people through
their work zones.
We're all on the exterior now.
We've got heavy bore aerial
fire master streams going.
To address the building that's on fire.
Additionally, we have lots of exposure
lines that we're utilizing to protect the
building that's just next to it adjacent,
probably 4 feet apart.
We're doing everything we possiy
can to make sure that we can
save that building and continue
to work on knocking the flames
down to the the fire structure.
What information do you have on
rescue efforts that were underwy
and is there any new informatio?
There's really no new
information on the rescues.
We affected a lot of rescues eay
on in this scene. Initially.
And then we went in and did some more
extensive searching and assisted
people out and then we pulled or
crews out just for their safety.
We're really concerned with a
structural collapse as well.
So we've moved our rigs out of e
collapse zone so that if we do n
fact have a building collapse,
we won't have one of our fire
engines or trucks or personnel
underneath that look in that location.
Do you have any information? Wee
hearing reports of a highway closure.
Yeah, I-405 is closed in both directions
right now as a result of the sme
banking down and and limiting visibility.
So, well, we're also obviously there's
thousands of feet of hose on the ground.
So the roads here in downtown
Portland in this particular aree
going to be closed for quite a .
And we've heard that there was e
firefighter who was minorly inj.
Yeah, tiny injury to the forehe.
Yeah, we had an explosion.
Glass blew across the street
and hit him in the forehead.
And he did have a minor cut,
but he's got his helmet back
on and he's working again. So
very good. And just lastly here,
how long do you think this is gg
to take to put out this fire?
We'll be here all night. Thank
you so much, Rick Graves.