May 8, 2012

9:03 AM

At 1:50 am, Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a report of a fire at the Taboo Video Store located at237 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.  When firefighters from Portland Fire Station 1 (OldTown) arrived, they found a small fire on the outside of the building.  A Portland Police officer was in the area at the time the fire broke out.  The officer used a dry chemical fire extinguisher to put down most of the flames prior to firefighters’ arrival. 

Damage to the building is estimated at $1,000 andPortlandfire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.

The second fire occurred at 2:55 am.  When firefighters from Portland Fire Station 12 (Sandy Blvd.) arrived at a home located at 4339 NE 80^th, they could see heavy fire coming from back of the house.  Neighbors informed firefighters that the home was vacant, and that they had not seen anyone in the house for weeks. 

When firefighters entered the house, they could see that the fire had moved quickly into the attic and had vented through the roof.  Firefighters inside the house were moved outside temporarily while waiting for more firefighters to arrive on-scene to attack the blaze.  As additional resources arrived, firefighters attacked the fire with three hose teams and quickly extinguished the flames. 

Neighbors stated that they smelled smoke around 10:00 pm in the area but thought the smell was coming from a barbecue.  Damage to the house is estimated at $60,000 and fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.