Portland Fire & Rescue evacuated Benson Polytechnic High School on Tuesday after crews responded to a potential hazardous materials spill that investigators isolated to a single room inside the Northeast Portland campus. Students and staff were moved out of the building while firefighters worked to inspect and secure the site, and no chemical substance or injuries had been identified as of the initial emergency response.
According to a post from Portland Fire & Rescue, the department was monitoring the scene at Benson Polytechnic High School and said its Public Information Officer would provide updates as more information became available. The agency, which describes its mission as protecting life, property and the environment across Portland, Oregon, reminded the public to call 9-1-1 for emergencies. KGW confirmed the spill was confined to a single room but had not identified the chemical involved or reported any injuries as crews worked the scene.
The station's report was corroborated by FOX 12 Oregon, which reported that emergency crews evacuated both students and staff as firefighters deployed to inspect and secure the potential chemical hazard at the campus. Neither outlet had released details on how the spill occurred or what substance was suspected inside the affected room.
A Newly Modernized Campus With Advanced Labs
Benson Polytechnic High School, located at 546 NE 12th Avenue, reopened in August 2024 following a three-year, $416 million modernization project, per the same account from KGW. That rebuild created specialized new career and technical education classrooms and lab spaces at the school, which serves as Portland Public Schools' flagship technical magnet campus.
The renovation later earned Restore Oregon's 2025 DeMuro Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation, recognizing how the project integrated updated technical workshops into the school's historic 1917 landmark structures, according to Restore Oregon. The finished campus spans 379,000 square feet, balancing preserved historic wings with new academic buildings. Benson enrolls roughly 818 students in grades 9 through 12, with a curriculum built around STEM education and technical majors including automotive, health occupations, and manufacturing, per data compiled by Moonpreneur.
Portland Public Schools requires all district facilities, including Benson's labs, to follow Oregon-OSHA Hazard Communication rules, which prohibit unapproved chemicals brought from home and require Safety Data Sheets for all classroom chemical storage, according to the Portland Public Schools Environmental Health & Safety department. The district maintains a centralized Safety Data Sheet database and dedicated environmental safety staff to oversee those protocols. It remains an open question whether Tuesday's incident involved instructional lab supplies or a ventilation or storage issue, and Hoodline has not confirmed those details.
Specialized Crews Built for Chemical Emergencies
Incidents like this one fall to Oregon Regional Hazardous Materials Team 7, which operates out of Portland Fire & Rescue Station 7 in the Mill Park neighborhood, according to the City of Portland. Station 7's members are certified hazmat technicians who cover both Multnomah and Columbia counties. Under Oregon's broader emergency management framework, the state Department of State Fire Marshal oversees 12 regional hazmat response teams for containment, while the Department of Environmental Quality directs any post-incident cleanup, per a Citygate and Associates report published on Portland.gov. Regional hazmat units are typically called in only when a chemical incident exceeds what a local engine company can handle on its own.
Part of a Busier Summer for Portland Hazmat Crews
Tuesday's evacuation adds to a run of hazardous materials calls across Multnomah County in recent weeks. A construction crew struck a natural gas line in North Portland on September 1, and a commercial acid leak sent vapor through a North Portland warehouse on August 18. Station 7's hazmat crews have been handling chemical containment calls across the city with some regularity this summer, a trend Hoodline has tracked in recent coverage.
Benson's campus has also drawn scrutiny on the construction side. A worker died from injuries suffered in a forklift accident at the Benson renovation site in June 2024, during the final phase of the rebuild, according to Confined Space. More recently, lawsuits seeking tens of millions of dollars from contractor Andersen over alleged cost overruns tied to the modernization project have surfaced, separate from Tuesday's hazmat response.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Portland Fire & Rescue had not released the identity of the chemical involved or confirmed whether anyone was exposed. Hoodline will update this story with information from the department's Public Information Officer and Portland Public Schools' Environmental Health & Safety staff once the affected room is cleared and additional details become available.
