Ombudsman releases scathing report on Portland Fire & Rescue
The Ombudsman's Office initially spoke to KOIN 6 News about their investigation in the days after the KOIN 6 News investigation detailed the issues in late December 2024.
The Cherry Blossom Townhomes near Mall 205 in Portland were approved at the last minute despite fire inspector warnings about code violations and without a required appeals process, the Ombudsman's report determined.
Potential fire access issues
Deputy Ombudsman Tony Green told KOIN 6 News his biggest concern is missing fire lane signs and rampant parking that blocks fire truck access.
'I am surprised that the Fire Bureau isn't acknowledging the problems with the parking,' Green said. 'And the other problem that they're not acknowledging is that the ground ladders do not meet best practices with the height of the building, and so they need to have an aerial access in there.'
He said the buildings may exceed the height (30 feet) that requires a 26-foot-wide access road or an automatic sprinkler system, neither of which was implemented.
Firefighters determined that some of the buildings were too tall to follow best practices for ground ladders, the memo stated.
Parking on the access road and sidewalks narrows the available width to 17 feet, he said, obstructing space needed for aerial ladder trucks to fully deploy stabilizing braces.
Turnaround requirement possibly overlooked
The investigation stated the dead-end access road may exceed 300 feet in length, which could require a turnaround under local interpretations of the Fire Code.
PF&R accepted a 'Y' shaped fork as a substitute, but again, the ombudsman found no written record that explains this decision.
Inconsistent and delayed communication
A homeowner raised safety concerns in Oct. 2023 then again in July 2024, but the investigation found PF&R took months to respond, offered conflicting information, and failed to follow through on promised communications.
Homeowners received mixed messages about whether parking changes were needed and never received the formal guidance they were promised, Green said.
'I don't feel safe at all, but I feel less safe than ever because the fire department, it's their job and their duty to keep us safe, and they failed to do that,' said homeowner Lacey Sutton.
Even after being alerted to his findings, Green told KOIN 6 News, fire officials remain in denial.
'That was disappointing that they, at least at this point, have not acknowledged the problems and have not embraced a leadership role in determining and helping this place move towards the safest possible arrangement,' Green said.
In his memo released early Wednesday, Green recommends:
PF&R provide written documentation explaining how firefighters can respond safely to emergencies at the site
Give written recommendations on parking restrictions and any needed safety improvements
Hold a public meeting to allow residents to ask questions and receive direct answers from fire officials.
'What I had hoped to accomplish was for the Fire Bureau to take some responsibility for the situation and help guide the homeowners association,' Green said.
In response, Portland Fire Marshal Kari Schimel said PF&R is committed to holding a meeting to answer homeowners questions and concerns.
Cherry Blossom Response LetterDownload
KOIN 6 News will have more information later in the day, including homeowners, officials from Habitat for Humanity and Portland Fire & Rescue.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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This occurred at about the same time that the crew of Flight 5342 received a traffic advisory from the aircraft's TCAS stating, 'traffic, traffic.' According to the report, a 'TCAS' is a device equipped on the aircraft that 'provides collision avoidance protection for a broad spectrum of aircraft types.' At 8:47:42 p.m., or 16 seconds before the collision, the air traffic controller instructed PAT25 to pass behind Flight 5342. Two seconds later, PAT25 indicated that the traffic was in sight and again requested visual separation, which was approved by the DCA tower. At 8:47:58, Flight 5342 made a last-minute pitch up to avoid PAT25, but a mid-air collision occurred. 'This is going to be something that I think will be a focus of the investigation,' Green said. 'The Black Hawk helicopter clearly did not ever identify Flight 5342 and continued its flight and flew directly into it.' Green said the accident occurred for several reasons, but some questions still need to be answered to determine the root cause of the failure. 'Why did the Black Hawk pilots not identify Flight 5342? Why did Flight 5342 pilots never see the Black Hawk helicopter flying directly towards them? Why did the air traffic controller, number one,' Green said, 'give this clearance to a helicopter flying through the airspace with so much traffic, given the long history of near mid-air collisions at that airport, and why was the helicopter at the wrong altitude?' Near-miss data at DCA Included in the NTSB preliminary report was a review of the 944,179 commercial operations at DCA between October 2021 and December 2024. The report says, 'during that time, there were 15,214 occurrences between commercial airplanes and helicopters in which there was a lateral separation distance of less than 1 nm (nautical mile) and vertical separation of less than 400 feet. There were 85 recorded events that involved a lateral separation less than 1,500 feet and vertical separation less than 200 feet.' Shortly following the accident, the FAA issued a 'notice to airmen,' restricting helicopter traffic from operating over the Potomac River near DCA until March 31, 2025. The near-miss data paints an ugly picture, portraying these close calls as accidents waiting to happen. Even if PAT25 was flying at the maximum altitude of 200 feet, the NTSB report states that 'it would have about 75 feet of vertical separation from an airplane approaching runway 33.' Why was PAT25 flying above 200 feet? According to the NTSB preliminary report, PAT25 was traveling along Route 1 of the Baltimore-Washington Helicopter Route Chart, which is shown below. The report states that once helicopters pass Memorial Bridge, 'the maximum allowable altitude on Route 1 is 200 feet above mean sea level.' But how does an Army helicopter determine its altitude to begin with? 'The helicopter has two different instruments that show its altitude,' Green said. 'One is the barometric altimeter that gives the pilots their altitude above sea level, so that is the primary instrument that pilots use to determine altitude.' Green said the barometric altimeter is calibrated before takeoff for a mission, and it is even set while the pilots are in-flight. He said it provides accurate readings. 'The second altimeter on a Black Hawk is called a radar altimeter, and that gives the altitude above the ground,' Green said. 'It essentially sends out a radar signal and, based on the time it takes to kind of come back, it determines how far down the ground is.' If neither the barometric nor the radar altimeter is in working order, Green said the crew has their vision to gauge altitude. But the NTSB report includes cockpit voice recorder data indicating that the instructor pilot and pilot were observing different altitudes. 'At 2:043:48, PAT25 was about 1.1 nm (nautical miles) west of the Key Bridge. According to the helicopter's CVR, the pilot indicated that they were at 300 feet. The IP indicated they were at 400 feet. Neither pilot made a comment discussing an altitude discrepancy.' 'If that happened, they should have had a conversation,' Green said. 'That's a problem that they did not have that conversation. After the accident, the FAA and the NTSB have been unable to get good data on what the actual pressure altitude was from the altimeter system.'
