Thunderbird owner reportedly owes $1 million in taxes

If anyone has photos of the fire or any information on how it started, they should contact Portland Fire & Rescue at 503-823-3700 or FireMarshal@portlandoregon.gov.

Getting to the bottom of what caused the five-alarm fire at the vacant Thunderbird on the River hotel on Sunday will probably take at least a week, officials said Tuesday.

A team of 30 specialists from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined Portland police and firefighters on Tuesday to investigate the cause of the fire. The specialist team includes fire investigators, explosive experts, forensic mappers, electrical engineers, forensic chemists and others who are specifically trained to work fire and explosive scenes.

In a related matter, KGW-TV and The Oregonian reported that the owner of the hotel, Thunderbird Hotel LLC, owes back taxes of $1,123,801.02 to Multnomah County.

The fire sparked Sunday morning before 3 a.m. at the hotel at 1401 N. Hayden Island Drive. When firefighters arrived on scene, there were heavy flames coming from the roof of the building, said Portland Fire Marshal John Harding. A fifth alarm was called at 4:23 a.m.

“This is the first five-alarm fire we’ve had since 2002,” Harding said, referring to the University of Portland bluff fire. It also was the first five-alarm structure fire since 1999, officials said.

Firefighters took a defensive attack, meaning they tried to contain the fire to the damaged area of the building, he said.

Investigators are unsure how long the fire was burning before it was reported. The building was being used to store mattresses and furniture, which may have contributed to how fast the fire spread, Harding said. Investigators also will work to determine if the building’s sprinkler system was working at the time of the fire, said Michael Silva, Portland Fire & Rescue spokesman.

Firefighters estimate damage to the hotel may be $5 million, which was based on damage to 85 percent of the six-building hotel, Silva said. That preliminary estimate could increase, Silva said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the fire was still smoldering. An aerial truck and one engine have been on scene 24 hours a day since the fire started, Silva said.

“There’s just so much still smoldering and probably will be for days,” he said.

Silva said he will get daily updates from investigators and send out media releases to update the public.