Reports of heavy smoke billowing and fire erupting from the fifth floor balcony of an apartment in the towering, publicly-owned Sellwood Center at 1724 S.E. Tenino Street, on Wednesday evening, August 21, sent numerous Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) and Clackamas Fire District #1 crews to that address at 7:52 p.m.
While still some distance away, crews radioed seeing a column of smoke rising into the air above the eight-story, project-based, Section 8 apartment building operated by Home Forward, formerly known as the Housing Authority of Portland.
The first arriving Battalion Chief took command and requested a Second Alarm, to bring more firefighters and equipment to the high-rise residential structure fire.
While some of the crew members hauled fire hoses up the stairs to spray water into the burning apartment, others were evacuating the building. The sprinkler system helped keep the fire at bay.
Firefighters reported that the fire had spread to the sixth floor balcony above the fire’s origin, and flames were dropping embers, sparking active fires on the fourth and third floor balconies below.