A moored Christmas Ship caught fire on the Willamette River just south of the Hawthorne Bridge Thursday night, providing a rescue opportunity for Portland’s newest fire boat.
The fire began just before 7 p.m. at the Riverplace Marina on the waterfront, where a busy boardwalk of onlookers and several spectators from yacht parties watched the smoke spread and the flames quickly get out of control.
Portland Fire Boat 17, aka the Eldon Trinity, arrived shortly after with firefighters who boarded the burning 32-foot trawler and put the blaze out in minutes.
The Eldon Trinity was dedicated Dec. 7 in honor of two young children–Trinity Smith, 7, and her 4-year-old brother Eldon Smith–who were thrown from the Sellwood Bridge into the Willamette River by their mother on May 23, 2009.
Eldon Smith did not survive that fall, and the time it took Portland Fire to make a river response prompted the Portland City Council to fund a high speed emergency boat.
Video above is from the December 7 dedication ceremony.
Also on STATter911 …
- Must see video: Portland, OR firefighter falls through roof on live TV. – May 17, 2012
- Must see raw video: Portland, Maine woman rescued just in time from sinking car by citizens, fire & police. – September 30, 2012
- You’ll want to see this: Teenagers throw snowballs at firefighters on a fireboat. Guess what happens. – January 21, 2013
- Pre-arrival video: House fire in Portland, OR. – May 19, 2013
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Wow…the story behind it all is very sad. God bless her and her family.
Great work Portland Fire!
Dave, great story. Glad to see a department thats actually spending money on its fire department and the citizens. Portland is making resucues instead of making excuses.
The authority of Portland Fire are very swift in their work. But because of carelessness of the captain many fire even burns. All should be careful to prevent this.
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