Eight Rescued from Portland, OR, Fire Sparked by Molotov Cocktail
oregonlive.com
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Daniel Domingo was getting ready for the day in his second-floor apartment when he noticed smoke wafting up past the front window.
When he realized the building was on fire, he and his family quickly gathered what they could, including their dog, but by the time they got outside they realized they’d have to jump from the terrace. Even Domingo’s mother, who’s approaching her 70s, leaped from the second floor.
“I was just thinking about survival,” Domingo, 30, said. “My mom’s the eldest – she shouldn’t even have to deal with any of this.”
Four people who lived in the east Portland apartment complex told The Oregonian/OregonLive that a man who also lived in the 3-story building threw a Molotov cocktail into the complex Friday morning. The blaze quickly engulfed the building.
One person has been “detained” for questioning, according to Rick Graves, spokesperson for Portland Fire & Rescue. Police have not publicly identified the person. Graves would not comment on the cause of the fire.
Domingo said the person he believes started the fire “has psychotic episodes. He’s just screaming absurdities, yelling [stuff].” Domingo lived in the apartment right above where the man allegedly threw the makeshift incendiary.
The fire was reported at 5:53 a.m. at the building near East Burnside Street and 104th Avenue, and nearly 80 Portland and Gresham firefighters ended up responding to the four-alarm blaze. Fire crews extinguished the fire in about an hour.
Shaun Dougherty, 41, lived in an apartment in the back part of the building. He said he heard the sound of arguing, and then glass breaking, before he heard people yelling that a fire had started.
“Dude threw, like, a Molotov cocktail in the window; like, it just went up in flames,” Dougherty said. “You know, went quick. I just grabbed my backpack and some cash, and I was out of here.”
He said it was “pandemonium” as people fled the burning building. “There was a girl who had to walk on glass, and [there were] bloody footprints all the way out here.”
Portland Fire & Rescue said firefighters rescued eight people from the blaze, as well as four dogs and a cat.
Domingo lived in the apartment building with family for a decade before the fire. He said disturbances were common.
“This neighborhood, really, it was already kind of rough around the edges,” Domingo said. He added that it had gotten worse since the pandemic: “crime, shootings, psychotic episodes, people with mental illness, unhoused. It’s just kind of just common life here every day.”
David Richards, 46, had lived in the apartment complex for six years. He was half asleep when he heard someone outside yelling that a fire had started.
“I hear, like, the breaking of glass and then I just kind of gathered my wits, walked out my patio, and then I can see the front of (the building) engulfed,” Richards said. “I was just running out for help, and the heat was just unbearable. I got a little bit burned, right around my arm and my neck because I was just running.”
Fire officials said two people were injured in the blaze. The extent of the injuries is not known at this time.
The fire bureau said at least 15 people have been displaced from their homes because of the fire, and possibly more than 30.
This story has been updated.
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