PORTLAND, Ore. — The Fifty Licks ice cream parlor in Portland's Buckman neighborhood was heavily damaged by a fire Friday morning, putting the shop out of commission for an unknown amount of time.
"I've had some tears today; it's been a tough day," said Fifty Licks owner Chad Draizin.
Portland Fire & Rescue tweeted about a fire in the two-story building at the corner of East Burnside Street and Southeast 28th just before 8 a.m., reporting that there was a fire in the basement with smoke pushing up through the roofline. The agency said it had the fire out and crews were departing the scene about an hour later.
Fifty Licks posted about the damage on Instagram later in the day, writing that no one was hurt but the damage was "pretty severe." Firefighters helped store staff form a "bucket brigade" to quickly move ice cream tubs from the store out to the waiting Fifty Licks truck.
Draizin debuted the local ice cream company in 2009, specializing in made-from-scratch ice cream sold from a truck. Fifty Licks later expanded to the Burnside shop and two other brick-and-mortar locations: 2021 SE Clinton Street in the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood and at 1647 NW 21st Avenue in Slabtown.
Draizin said his East Burnside location is by far their busiest and noted the timing of the fire couldn't have been worse.
"It's always hard making it through the winter, and now that it's summer — it's the first hot day of the year, and now, we're closed," said Draizin.
Several adjacent businesses were also impacted, including Cream Salon. Owner Nicole Martinez said her space is now uninhabitable. She started a GoFundMe to help her business rebuild.
"I was just in complete shock," said Martinez. "We're hoping to make it through all this. I think we're all trying to support one another."
Kenz Wilkerson lives in one of the six upstairs apartments and was displaced by the fire.
"I immediately opened my front door to go notify everyone in the building and just a bunch of smoke was in the building," said Wilkerson. "People were immediately offering me shelter, food, clothes — it was really sweet to just have a community jump in and be willing to take care of me."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.