PORTLAND, Ore. — A fire broke out Monday afternoon at a warehouse on the east side of the Willamette River next to Interstate 5, producing a highly visible column of black smoke over the city.
Fire crews stayed on scene through the night and the building was still smoldering on Tuesday morning, with no visible flames but a column of smoke still rising next to the freeway. Portland Fire & Rescue spokesman Rick Graves told KGW that crews were still cycling through a "fire watch" phase, with two engine crews working three-hour shifts.
"This will continue until we are confident the fire has been completely extinguished," he said.
The first call came in for the fire around 4:04 p.m. Thursday from the 400 block of North Thompson Street, which is in an industrial area just north of the Portland Public Schools main offices and south of Swan Island.
The source of the fire was a two-story commercial building operated by noodle company Shin Shin Foods, Graves told KGW. PF&R said in a news release that the fire was a grease fire that started in an elevated commercial-size hood vent in the 100-year-old, 26,000 square foot building.
Though it began as a grease fire call, flames spread throughout the building. The first fire crews called for a second alarm before they even arrived, just based on the size of the smoke column they could see while crossing the Broadway Bridge. The incident was eventually elevated to a four-alarm fire, according to PF&R, with nearly 100 firefighters on scene at one point.
The first crews were able to connect to a fire hydrant and stretch the hose to the inside of the building with fire and smoke coming out of the crack in the outside brick walls, but they had to withdraw as the fire grew.
Companies on-scene began pumping water into windows and from above with ladder trucks. However, Graves said, there were few hydrants in the area, forcing fire crews to pump water from further away.
PF&R said at one point, one of the aerial ladders was lowered to the ground level and was pouring nearly 2000 gallons a minute alone into the structure.
PF&R felt confident that the flames wouldn't spread to nearby buildings, but the Shin Shin Foods warehouse is an old building and fire crews were prepared for structural collapse. Firefighters were being kept out of the "fall zone" and were not being sent inside.
There are 65 people who work in the building, but everyone got out unharmed.
PF&R fire investigations unit will be working with the Shin Shin Foods warehouse owner's representative during the investigation.
PHOTOS: Portland warehouse fire
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