Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a 3-alarm fire at the former Portland Korean Church the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, near the city's downtown core.
Greg Muhr / Portland Fire & Rescue
A downtown Portland church building was destroyed in a fire Tuesday evening.
The fire started just before 5:30 p.m. inside the former Portland Korean Church at Southwest 10th Avenue and Clay Street.
The building was unoccupied. It had already been deemed unsafe after a previous fire heavily damaged it in September 2020.
The fire Tuesday was mostly extinguished within about an hour. But it damaged a neighboring home, where five residents have been displaced.
Concerns the church wall may collapse and take out the overhead streetcar power lines pic.twitter.com/P1caGi1aPy
— Portland Fire & Rescue (@PDXFire) January 4, 2023
The three-story church building has a 35-foot steeple on top, and if it were to collapse it could damage the overhead wires for the nearby Portland Streetcar. Crews will return to assess its structural stability Wednesday.
Clay Street will be closed and traffic will be limited on 10th Avenue through at least Wednesday afternoon.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Portland Fire & Rescue at the scene of a 3-alarm fire at the former Portland Korean Church on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
Greg Muhr / Portland Fire & Rescue