Firefighters investigating SUV fire in SE Portland neighborhood
»Play Video
PORTLAND, Ore. – Firefighters are investigating a fire that burned an SUV early Sunday morning in a Southeast Portland neighborhood.
It happened near Southeast 97th Avenue and Steele Street.
Rachel Jamison said she woke up to the sound of her car alarm. Then she saw the glow.
"Flames shooting up," she said. "Then it was 'oh my gosh, the car's on fire! Call 911!'"
The flames melted the side of her duplex. No one was hurt.
"[We] just tried to grab our shoes, and pants and get out of the house," said Jamison.
When she looked at her burned SUV later, she said it looked like someone was trying to siphon gas.
"They had taken my gas cap off," Jamison said. "There was gas poured around. I'm feeling a little violated. It was definitely a scary experience."
Neighbors said they smelled gas and saw someone run away when the fire started. Marc Wheeler said he heard the car alarm at around 5:15 a.m.
“I heard a loud explosion,” he said. “So I ran outside. I came out and I see a Jeep Cherokee on fire.”
Wheeler said he thought someone was trying to take gasoline out of his neighbor’s SUV. He said that’s been a problem in the neighborhood.
Angel Marks said when her mother came to her house she found a curtain soaked in gasoline on her front porch after the fire.
“We don’t know if the people were going to light the thing on fire or not,” she said. “We don’t have any enemies. We don’t know who would have done this.
“They messed with my husband’s car. I don’t know if they were trying to steal gas or start his truck on fire.”
Firefighters found a gas can near the burned SUV.
Graz Dalvarez said whoever started the fire used a hose and some tools from his back yard.
“I saw a guy running down the street down there,” said Dalvarez, who lives nearby. “That’s what I told the police. That guy looked suspicious.”
This comment has been deleted
Picture makes it look like a low-rider.
@Bert
225/00 17 tyres will do that. Not low profile, but no profile.
@Bert That's what happens when the tires burn up.
Man, we siphoned gas as kids to keep our '55 Chevrolet's going in Lake Oswego, but it was .25 cents a gallon back then and no one really cared - we never intentionally started any fire to prove some wanna-be's anarchist way of life. What a way to make some statement and when I was I cop, it was always the Russians that set fire to vehicles - not anymore; maybe...
I'll bet the bad guy got some burns, or at least singed his hair.
I briefly lived in Oakland California, and while that city has a lot of expensive real estate, you would see things like a burned out car like that, or a few blocks where many of the cars had their windows broken out overnight, and it wouldn't even be mentioned in the newspaper. It is nice that people are more concerned about crime here.
as ive said 665 times before, making this the 666th time, smokers carelessness simply knows NO boundaries and respects absolutley NO limits or reason.
@Pers Retiree We need to ban combustible cigarettes
Gotta put down the cigarette before you start the siphon.
Hummm I wonder if this is the SUV that hit & ran the woman on Division last night?
If it doesn't belong to anyone near where it was found, they might want to look into that possibility.Â
"Dark colored SUV" is what ran her down.. SE 68th isn't far from 90th, the hit & run was just after   3 am, the SUV is set afire shortly after 5 am.. Curious..
@cwpholder of course it was not her that did that. SHe had hundreds of dollars of school books and girl scout cookies in there, I am positive she would of taken them out before hand.. just saying.
hmmm....things that make you go hmmmm.
Was this the neighbor's SUV? The story isn't clear if it belonged there or not..Â
@cwpholder A bon fire at 5 am is no way to hide a suv.
@Bert @cwpholder Well nobody said criminals were smart. lol
I noticed there's no license plate. So they'll use the vin for tracking and bet the "Owner" will claim it was stolen.
@disgustedman Her license plate was ripped off and thrown on the side of her house, she is now keeping it as a reminder of how scummy portland is. So she is not "claiming" anything :)
@cwpholder @Jenni S. @disgustedman No problem. I'd remembered seeing a tweet about it from KGW earlier in the night, so I went and found the link.
@Jenni S. @disgustedman Thanks for the update!Â
@disgustedman Maybe it's missing because of the fire? Looks like it burned awfully hot there in the back - bumper's gone, tires all burned out, etc.
It definitely wasn't from the hit and run, as that guy turned himself in and they found the vehicle at a body shop.
http://www.kgw.com/news/Woman-injured-in-SE-Portland-hit-and-run-192764721.html
@disgustedman
You maybe right, but a "missing" plate is not suspicious in a major fire. Â They are made out of thin Al and melt.