Portland fire and rescue crews are responding to a three-alarm fire in the 900 block of SW Clay Street.
Crews were dispatched shortly before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to the fire at the former Portland Korean Church. The building was completed in 1905, initially as the First German Evangelical Church. It remained in use by the same congregation for 73 years.
“I walked right past it on the way to the DMV,” said spectator Gena Hoyt. “We saw huge flames above the church. Like, really huge flames,” Joe Silvey says. “Insane. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Fire crews were unable to get inside quickly as the building has been marked as unsafe, with holes in the floors from previous fires.
Because of concerns of potential collapse, streets are closed nearby.