Portland Fire & Rescue crews pulled a trapped patient from a vehicle Thursday morning after a crash at SE 140th Avenue and Stark Street, transporting that person to a hospital with an injury severity the department described as unknown. Firefighters from Station 7, along with Engine 30 and command unit C3, responded to the scene before crews began clearing it.
What Portland Fire Reported
In a post on X, Portland Fire & Rescue
said it was “clearing the scene of a pin in MVC with one patient extricated and transported to the hospital with unknown level of injuries at SE 140 and Stark.” The department's update, posted under its @pdxfire handle Thursday morning, did not specify how the crash occurred or whether other vehicles or people were involved.
The agency's post listed the units that responded, noting “Station 7 Engine 30, and C3 working” at the scene. Beyond the extrication and transport, no further details on the patient's condition or the circumstances of the crash were included in the department's report.
A Known Trouble Spot for East Portland Drivers
The stretch of Southeast Stark where Thursday's crash occurred sits within a corridor that city transportation officials have flagged for years. According to KATU, Portland Bureau of Transportation data showed more than 700 crashes along a three-mile stretch of Stark between 2013 and 2017. The same report notes PBOT has classified Southeast Stark as part of the city's high-crash network and among its most dangerous streets, based on data from 2017 to 2021.
The station's report also cited citywide PBOT figures counting 61 traffic deaths in 2023 between January 1 and December 15, including 21 pedestrians. The Portland Bureau of Transportation says it is actively working to improve safety for all modes along SE Stark Street between SE 108th Avenue and SE 162nd Avenue, under what it calls the Safer Outer Stark project. Per the same KATU account, that project had faced delays as of December 2023, with construction expected to begin in 2025.
A Fatal Crash Earlier This Year Nearby
Thursday's crash is not the only serious incident reported along this part of Stark in recent months. A pedestrian was killed in a crash at Southeast Stark Street and Southeast 139th Avenue in the Hazelwood neighborhood in July, according to KOIN. That station reported officers responded at 1:42 a.m. and found a man dead at the scene, prompting authorities to close Stark between SE 138th and SE 143rd avenues during the investigation.
KOIN also reported that the driver in the July crash remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, with the Portland Police Bureau's Major Crash Team handling the case. The available evidence does not establish any connection between that fatal crash and Thursday's pin-in collision at SE 140th and Stark; they remain separate reported incidents at nearby intersections along the same corridor.
