Portland Fire & Rescue crews responded to a basement fire involving lithium-ion batteries in a building in Northwest Portland on Wednesday, and officials say the blaze was quickly knocked down with no injuries reported. Crews remained on scene afterward to clear any remaining hazards before leaving.
The department shared the update in a social media post Wednesday at 10:24 p.m., writing that it was “on scene of an extinguished fire involving lithium-ion batteries in the basement of a building in NW PDX,” according to Portland Fire & Rescue
. The post confirmed the fire had been put out and that there were no reported injuries, with crews expected to clear the scene once all hazards were addressed.
Beyond those details, little else about the incident has been made public. The agency's post did not identify the building, its address, or how the fire started, and it did not specify what kind of lithium-ion batteries were involved.
A Recurring Hazard Across Portland
This is far from the first time lithium-ion batteries have sparked fire trouble in the city. In one earlier case, a burning electric scooter stored in a primary egress route ignited an early-morning blaze at a Northwest Portland apartment complex, the same type of incident the station reported involved no injuries and no displaced residents, per the account from KATU.
Fire officials quoted in that KATU report warned that lithium-ion batteries can undergo thermal runaway, a process that “can result in extremely high temperatures, violent cell venting, smoke, and fire.” That dynamic has shown up repeatedly in Portland-area fires tied to battery failures.
In September 2024, two separate lithium-ion battery fires broke out across the city on the same day, displacing 11 Portlanders from their homes altogether, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. One fire broke out in a Southwest Portland neighborhood and displaced three people, while the other hit Southeast Portland and displaced eight. Portland Fire and Rescue determined both fires resulted from thermal runaway in the batteries, which happens when an encased battery cell heats up faster than it can cool down, per KOIN.
Battery Failures Have Also Struck Campus Buildings
The risk hasn't been limited to apartment buildings. In April 2025, multiple lithium-ion batteries exploded inside Portland State University's Engineering Building, forcing more than 100 students and staff to evacuate for about two hours, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Nobody was injured in that incident, and the outlet's report on the PSU explosions also noted the prior year's apartment fires and an additional e-scooter battery fire that had struck another apartment building the previous August.
City and regional agencies have taken note of the pattern. An event in May 2026 focused on safe battery disposal, with representatives from Metro, Heiberg Garbage and Recycling, Portland Fire and Rescue, Clackamas Fire District, and the City of Portland highlighting the dangers of batteries getting mixed in with garbage and recycling, according to Metro.
No cause has been determined for Wednesday's Northwest Portland basement fire, and officials have not released further information about the building involved. Portland Fire & Rescue has not indicated whether additional details will follow once crews finish clearing the scene.
