An NE Portland hotspot for international groceries, Pacific Market, was engulfed in flames overnight in a severe 3-alarm fire, as reported by KATU News. Firefighters from Portland Fire & Rescue were dispatched to the scene in the Madison South Neighborhood around 2 am.
The inferno originated in an unoccupied restaurant space at the western periphery of the strip mall complex, and had not yet spread to the market at the time crews arrived. In the heat of the situation, firefighters struggled to pinpoint the fire's source, hindered by intense heat and profound smoke. "Crews launched an offensive, but had difficulty finding the source of the fire due to heat and thick smoke in the shuttered restaurant. The teams switched to the defensive, and a second alarm was called - doubling the number of firefighters to 60," said the report by Portland Fire & Rescue.
As the blaze escalated, so too did the demand for water, testing the limits of the local supply. The firefighters were reported to have connected to multiple hydrants in an effort to quench the voracious flames, a detail confirmed by KPIC.
The fire, which has led to Pacific Market being declared a "total loss," posed a significant strain on resources, and the full extent of the damage to the complex remains to be assessed. "PF&R says the water needed to fight the flames challenged the available water supply as the crews continued the defensive attack, and multiple hydrants were tapped," as per Portland Fire & Rescue's statement. Further details on the cause of the fire or potential injuries have yet to be disclosed.
