Officials determined that a fire in a Hillsboro apartment building was caused by an electric wheelchair on Dec. 27. The fire was contained by automated fire sprinklers.
At 12:29 a.m. Hillsboro Fire and Rescue units were dispatched by Washington County 911 dispatchers to a fire at the Rolling Green Apartments at 2206 SE 44th Ave.
Four minutes later, Hillsboro Engine 2 found smoke coming from a second floor window and the crew discovered that the fire had been extinguished by an automatic sprinkler system.
Additional arriving crews began checking each of the apartments to insure that no one was injured. Other firefighters began clearing the smoke from the room where the fire began and removing water from the first and second floors.
The person living in the apartment where the fire broke out was transported by Metro West Ambulance to a local hospital for smoke inhalation.
Six of the apartments on the first and second floor were damaged by water from the sprinkler and a Hillsboro Fire chaplain teamed up with the apartment manager secure shelter for the residents of the effected units.
Investigators determined that the fire was caused by an electric wheelchair.
A total of 24 firefighters from Hillsboro Fire and Rescue and Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue responded to the fire.
