At 4:59pm PF&R crews were dispatched to a "tour bus" fire on the right shoulder of westbound Hwy 26 just outside of downtown Portland. Original 911 callers reported that a tour bus had flames coming from beneath the bus and that the driver was evacuating the passengers. PF&R crews had to navigate rush hour traffic in order to arrive at the scene; once arrived, crews reported that the bus was fully involved. Contact was made with the bus driver who reported that all passengers had been safely evacuated without injury. Due to the size of the bus, the limited water supply carried on the fire engines (500 gallons) meant that crews had to locate and connect to fire hydrants located on the highway. Highway fire hydrants are spaced much further apart then those found in neighborhoods or business districts so locating and connecting to a usable one, with the density of the traffic, created some difficulty for fire & rescue crews. Several lanes of traffic were shut down including the Jefferson on-ramp to westbound highway 26. Last report is that the Jefferson on-ramp remains closed at time of this release. PF&R fire investigators are at the scene determining how this fire was started.

 

Contact Info: Lt. Rich Chatman PIO, media pgr: 503-940-6003