GRESHAM, Ore. — Fire officials confirmed on Saturday that federal investigators are looking into a "suspicious" fire at a pregnancy services provider in Gresham that started early Friday morning.
Firefighters responded to the Pregnancy Resource Center at 104 Northwest 11th Street around 2:30 a.m. on Friday, according to a spokesperson for the Gresham Fire Department. They saw smoke coming from the building, as well as some fire inside.
The flames were contained to one room inside the building and did not spread substantially beyond there, according to Gresham Fire. Damage to the building was moderate and likely repairable.
Some windows on the building had been broken, the spokesperson said.
The fire is being investigated by Gresham Fire, Gresham Police, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Evidence is being collected at the scene and processed, Gresham Fire said.
According to the Gresham Fire spokesperson, there haven't been any similar suspected arsons in Gresham recently, and they're not aware of any other incidents targeting Gresham facilities like this one.
Pregnancy Resource Centers are operated by First Image, a Christian organization with several offices in the Portland metro area that provide services to women choosing to carry their babies to term. Unlike Planned Parenthood or the Lilith Clinic, these centers do not provide abortion care.
In a Facebook post about the Gresham fire, the group said it appeared an "incendiary device was thrown through a window." According to First Image, the Pregnancy Resource Center in Southeast Portland was also vandalized several weeks ago.
"The kind of outrage that’s being directed at us is based on a complete misunderstanding and misrepresentation of who we are and how we have served the hundreds of thousands of people that have come to us over the decade," First Image said in part. "This moment in our culture is volatile, and the spillover into violence is deeply destructive to the fabric of our communities."