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At 6:24am on Friday April 5th, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue was dispatched to a reported house fire in the 2700 block of 15th Avenue. Initial reports were from a neighbor that stated there was smoke coming from the chimney and roof line of the house. Firefighters arrived minutes later and found a single story house with large amounts of smoke coming from the roof line and vents. Fire crews made access into the house and began to search for the fire, it was originally believed to be confined to the attic space. Upon further searching, firefighters found the majority of the fire burning under the home.
Due to the fire burning under the house, it had weakened the flooring. At one point, a firefighter fell through the floor which prompted the transmission of a Mayday over the radio per policy. The firefighter that fell through the floor was able to be assisted out by other firefighters working in their team. That firefighter sustained no injuries and immediately went back to the task of extinguishing the fire. When a Mayday is called on a fire scene, our vital dispatchers upgrade the incident to the next alarm as well as request additional medical resources to the scene like an air ambulance. In this instance, all additional resources were cancelled once it was determined that the firefighter didn't need rescued and wasn't injured.
It took firefighters approximately 30 minutes to extinguish the fire and another hour of putting out hot spots. The cause of the fire is under investigation. At the time of the fire, no one was living in the house and was in the process of being converted to an adult care home.
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue was assisted on scene by Cornelius Fire Department, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Gaston Fire District and AMR Ambulance.
Scene Information:
Engines - 4
Rescue - 1
Trucks - 1
Chiefs - 3
Ambulance - 1
Total Fire Personnel - 24
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