Firefighters find body after three-alarm fire in Portland

Portland Fire & Rescue battled a three-alarm fire in a Southwest Portland home early Saturday and despite several reports that no one was inside, firefighters later found a body after the fire was out.

The person’s identity remains unknown, according to fire officials.

Around 2 a.m., a fire alarm company reported an activation at the three-story home on Southwest Madison Street. Three minutes later a neighbor reported seeing the fire.

The neighbor reported that the home appeared unoccupied with no cars in the driveway. A contractor working on the home later said the owners were out of state on vacation.

Firefighters reported finding all three levels of the home and the basement consumed by fire with numerous windows blowing out from the heat. The neighboring home, about 20 feet away, sustained cracks in all of the windows facing the burning home, according to fire officials.

By 2:47 a.m., a third alarm was called for more crews to battle the fire on the 5,500-square-foot house. The fire was under control but still burning by 4:30 a.m. About an hour later, crews working from a ladder outside the home saw an adult dead on the ground through a second-floor window.