A four-alarm fire at Portland’s vacant Centennial Mills warehouse delivered a hard test of an old industrial building’s construction, and one detail stood out after the flames: the exterior masonry shell was still standing.
Portland Fire & Rescue responded around 3:50 p.m. Sunday to the fire in the 1300 block of Northwest Naito Parkway. Heavy smoke and flames spread through the eight-story former flour mill, and the incident escalated to a fourth alarm as nearly 100 firefighters worked the scene.
Fire crews stayed outside the collapse zone and fought the blaze defensively with aerial ladder trucks and master streams. The bureau said the building had already been designated unsafe for interior operations due to deteriorated floors, missing stairways, and other hazards, so firefighters were not able to enter the structure. A fireboat also responded to support water supply from the Willamette River. No injuries or fatalities were reported as of Sunday evening.
Officials said the fire moved vertically through the building’s heavy timber structure, unlike previous incidents at the property that were limited to lower levels. As the timber floors collapsed, fire officials described a large fuel load collecting at the base of the masonry shell, pushing flames and smoke upward “like a large chimney.” The roof later failed beneath the site’s water tower.
Even with the masonry walls still standing, the scene remained dangerous. Concerns about leaning walls and the potential for collapse led firefighters to move personnel and equipment farther back, while Northwest Naito Parkway stayed closed overnight during evaluations by city engineers and investigators. Embers also sparked spot fires on nearby roofs, trees, and dry vegetation, which crews extinguished before they spread.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. PF&R said the Scappoose Fire District Aviation Team will use unmanned aircraft to create a 3D map of the structure to support the origin investigation and to help engineers assess the integrity of the remaining masonry walls.
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