The scene of a March 8 fire at the base of the Steel Bridge in Portland. The fire revealed a homeless encampment inside a cement structure guarding the eastbound onramp.
Courtesy of Portland Fire & Rescue
The eastbound entrance to Portland’s Steel Bridge reopened Sunday following a fire last week that revealed a homeless encampment inside the base of the bridge.
Crews responding to a potential grass fire on March 8 arrived at the intersection of Northwest Everett Street and Naito Parkway to find smoke billowing from a cement structure guarding the base of the onramp.
After breaking inside, crews found evidence of several people sheltering inside the structure. Portland Fire and Rescue spokesperson Rick Graves said city officials were unaware of the “individual living spaces” tunneled inside the cement structure.
“I can say without a doubt that no one knew,” he said. “This was a very, very strange situation that hit people that were completely unknowing of it.”
However, Graves said there are likely similar encampments throughout the city that will need to be investigated for fire risk.
“I suspect we have other situations like this across the city that we are unaware of,” he said. “Hopefully we’re able to find them before we have a fire and lose the life, or lose the structure itself, as a result of fire damage.”
Graves said fire crews had found evidence of warming fires, cooking fires, and “inappropriately discarded smoking materials” at the site.
Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire, which left one person hospitalized for burn injuries and smoke inhalation.
A joint investigation conducted by the Portland Bureau of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Transportation found only minor surface damage to the Steel Bridge.
Graves said that other city bureaus would be responsible for determining if similar living spaces exist underneath Portland bridges or inside other structures.
Portland Fire and Rescue spokesperson Rick Graves spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation:
