Faulty fan sparks Clinton Street apartment blaze

By David F. Ashton

The Bee, Nov 4, 2009

David F. Ashton / THE BEE

Although they couldn’t locate all of the residents when first arriving, firefighters subsequently learned that everyone escaped the burning building without injury.

It was another warm evening, on Friday, September 25th, for the residents of the garden-style apartments in the 2700 block of S.E. 51st Avenue, at S.E. Clinton Street.

An older oscillating fan was running in the rear bedroom window of a second story apartment to help draw cool air through, as the occupants were watching a late-evening TV show. About 10 pm, one of those in the apartment got up to check on her cats – and was alarmed to see the fan ablaze, as well as a nearby futon and clothing.

“We got a fire extinguisher from the hallway,” said a resident who declined to identify herself. “But it wasn’t working. If it had been, we could have put out the fire ourselves.”

The alarm sounded at Portland Fire & Rescue at 10:04 pm; Woodstock-based Engine and Truck 25 raced to the building. The crews rolled up three minutes after the call, and saw smoke and fire roiling from the back of the apartment building – as we learned from Portland Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief, District 4, Jim Forquer.

“Our crews found fire burning out the back window,” Forquer told us. “It extended up into the eves, and there was a little extension into the attic.”

Because the fire involved an apartment house, additional firefighters were called to the scene. Engine 9, Engine 23, Engine 19, and Truck 4 soon pulled up in front of the building. Their crews pulled five hose lines up the exterior stairway. Truck 25 extended its long ladder from the street up to the roof of the apartment building, delivering water lines and firefighters to the top of the burning structure.

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