PORTLAND, Oregon — Firefighters with Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) have extinguished a fire that broke out inside a building Wednesday morning at the Portland Mercado, a food cart pod near Southeast Foster Road and Southeast 72nd Avenue.
PF&R said multiple 911 callers reported hearing explosions and seeing the fire.
The first crews arrived around 5:30 a.m. and saw the fire coming from one of the stall housing an independent business inside the building.
"The structure behind me here is a large common space with stores around the outside that circle it. One of those stores was heavily involved in fire upon arrival," said Rick Graves with PF&R, referring to the brick-and-mortar structure that's on the property.
PF&R said the building was full of smoke and the initial fire was contained to a single, independent business. Crews were able to get the fire under control a few minutes later, but they found flames hidden within the ceiling. PF&R said it was difficult to reach the spaces within the ceiling because it had both plywood and metal sheeting. Firefighters on the roof used saws to make holes to access the fire.
The agency said the fire was extinguished just after 30 minutes.
"This is an interesting food pod. You’ve got the food carts on one side, but you do have a brick-and-mortar structure that’s attached to it and that’s what we’re dealing with," Graves said. "So it’s a large structure with a lot of open space; a lot of smoke was filled throughout the area, so just clearing that smoke out took a long time."
PF&R is investigating and have not reported the cause of the fire. No injuries were reported.
In a statement, Portland Mercado said all businesses will be closed until further notice.
"Our top priority is to support the small businesses at the Portland Mercado during this incredibly difficult time and to ensure affected areas are safe and secured. We ask that you please respect the privacy of our vendors during this time as they manage this difficult situation," the statement said.
"We don’t know what happened. We don’t know if someone started the fire or not,” said Ernesto Fonseca, the CEO of the Hacienda CDC. “I was not expecting to see all the damage inside as it happened. So it was heartbreaking.”
Fonseca says the building is completely damaged and lost access to electricity something food cart owners heavily rely on.
“It’s terrible. It’s terrible waking up to this news,” said Ariel Cruzata, owner of the Havana Station that’s located outside of the Portland Mercado. “We’ve been here with the Coronavirus when business season was high and low. And now, with this situation, it’s disastrous. But we need to push through and move forward.”
All the businesses affected are sticking together and keeping their hopes high for a fast recovery.
“You know this is owned by the community and the food vendors,” said Fonseca. “And it’s a loss but it will come back… it will come back.”
Hacienda CDC has established a Portland Mercado Fire Relief Fund that will benefit the affected small businesses.
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