Firefighters from Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue were able to keep a large barn fire from spreading to surrounding structures this afternoon near a home about 2 miles north of the Bethany neighborhood.
Someone called 911 at 3:43 p.m. reporting a large barn fully engulfed in flames. When firefighters from TVF&R’s Stations 64 and 68 arrived six minutes later, they found the 40 foot by 126 foot barn with flames belching from windows and doors. ”The building was already beginning to collapse in on itself,” says TVF&R Battalion Chief Norvin Collins, “at that point we knew that this was a defensive fire and we had to focus on protecting nearby structures.”
The nearest structure, an outbuilding, was already beginning to show signs of charring and a fence 50 feet from the burning barn was melting. Firefighters worked quickly to keep the smoldering outbuilding from burning as wind blew the flames and smoke away from the property owners home more than a hundred feet from the barn.
Firefighters were able to pour thousands of gallons of water on the fire despite the fact that the area did not have fire hydrant. Instead, firefighters used water tender trucks to bring water to the scene so that the engines pumping water on the flames never ran out.
“A lot of things were working in our favor today,” Chief Collins says, “our crews got here quickly, the wind was blowing the smoke and flames away from nearby structures, and the building collapsed in on itself.”
More than 40 fire personnel from TVF&R, Portland Fire and Rescue and Hillsboro Fire and Rescue responded to the scene. 
A TVF&R investigator is working to determine the cause of the fire. The property owner had just remodeled the barn, which was nearly 100 years old. There was at least $300,000 worth of property inside the barn when it burned, including a restored 1968 Camaro, a boat, travel trailer and farm equipment.
