Firefighters are racing to a commercial building on NE Sandy Boulevard on Friday afternoon after reports of a fire broke out, with crews reporting heavy smoke as they approach the scene. The response is ongoing as of Friday afternoon, and details about the exact location, the building's occupancy status, and the cause remain unknown.
According to Portland Fire & Rescue, crews were dispatched to reports of a fire in a commercial building along the corridor, and responding units described seeing heavy smoke as they neared the area. The department, which describes its mission as protecting life, property and environment, has not yet released additional details on the scope of the fire or whether anyone was inside the structure at the time.
A Corridor Built For Density — And Risk
NE Sandy Boulevard is one of East Portland's busiest commercial arteries, stretching roughly 10 miles through a mix of historic streetcar-era buildings, auto shops, light industrial sites, and strip malls, per the City of Portland's own planning documents. The corridor's commercial mixed-use zoning supports a dense concentration of retail and industrial uses, which can complicate firefighting efforts when a structure fire breaks out along the strip.
The boulevard is also one of the city's 30 designated High Crash Network corridors, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation, meaning heavy traffic volumes already strain the roadway even without an emergency. Incidents that generate heavy smoke, like the one crews are currently responding to, can quickly create bottlenecks that complicate emergency vehicle access along the strip.
Local Stations With A History Along Sandy
Two Portland Fire & Rescue stations sit directly along the corridor. Fire Station 28 in Hollywood, built in 1913, is the department's oldest active firehouse and serves the Rose City Park, Hollywood, Cully, Beaumont-Wilshire, and Roseway neighborhoods, according to Portland.gov. Station 28 underwent a major expansion and renovation in 2005 after two decades out of service.
Further out, Fire Station 12 in the Sumner neighborhood houses Engine 12 and Squad 12, a specialized technical rescue team built to serve the commercial, industrial, and highway corridors of Northeast Portland. That station opened on September 11, 2002, as a dedicated memorial to emergency responders, per the same city source.
Not The First Big Blaze On This Stretch
Sandy Boulevard has seen major commercial fires before. In August 2023, a massive multi-alarm fire completely destroyed a large, vacant former Kmart building in the Argay Terrace neighborhood, sending heavy black smoke across East Portland, a blaze captured on video at the time. Hoodline has also chronicled a Rose City Park warehouse fire served by Station 28, and reported on Squad 12's response to a Cully-area fire that threatened a metal building near the corridor in August.
The boulevard has also seen other recent emergencies beyond fire calls. In May, emergency responders shut down NE Sandy Boulevard between NE 223rd and 238th Avenues due to an active hazardous materials ammonia leak at a commercial facility, an incident Hoodline detailed in its report on the Townsend Farms ammonia scare.
A Dry, High-Risk Season
Friday's fire comes amid a summer of heightened fire risk across the region. Fire and health officials across Multnomah County maintained mandatory summer burn bans and air quality advisories throughout July and August due to elevated heat, dry vegetation, and wildfire smoke, with the regional Grasshopper Fire near Mount Hood contributing to degraded air quality across the Portland area.
Portland Fire & Rescue is Oregon's largest fire protection provider, operating 31 stations across a 160-square-mile area. In Fiscal Year 2024-25, the department responded to 89,422 incidents with more than 113,000 unit responses, maintaining 29 engine companies and 10 ladder truck companies to serve more than 615,000 residents. The bureau sets a benchmark, based on National Fire Protection Association guidelines, of responding to high-priority emergency calls in 5 minutes and 20 seconds or less, 90 percent of the time.
This is a developing story. The exact address of the burning building, its occupancy status, and the cause of the fire have not yet been released, and Hoodline will update this report as Portland Fire & Rescue provides additional information.
