Crews used aerial apparatus to battle the seven-story Centennial Mills blaze as investigators prepare a drone survey

By Tatum Todd
oregonlive.com

PORTLAND, Ore. — Some 16 hours after fire tore through the Centennial Mills warehouse, the long-derelict building is still standing.

That’s despite the intensity of the inferno that started just before 4 p.m. on Sunday and consumed every floor of the seven-story building, which sits on a plot of Portland’s waterfront at 1362 Northwest Naito Parkway.

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At its peak the blaze brought 80 firefighters to the warehouse, as well as multiple aerial hose trucks that blasted thousands of gallons of water onto the fire while crowds of bystanders stood and watched.

Portland Fire and Rescue spokesperson Rick Graves told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the building has long been on the bureau’s “unsafe building” list, so firefighters battled the blaze only from outside of the structure, which has been a well-known sight on the waterfront for decades and has cycled through various redevelopment plans that never got off the ground.

By 5 p.m. Sunday, firefighters had tamped down the roaring flames to an orange flicker through the windows of the building’s ground floor. Graves told The Oregonian/OregonLive that crews for two aerial hose trucks monitored the building overnight in case hotspots flared up.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, and firefighters haven’t been able to search the building to confirm whether or not someone was inside at the time of the fire.

Officials are planning to send a drone loaned from the Scapoose Fire District into the building on Monday to create a 3D map of the ruined structure, Graves said.

Detectives are asking anyone who was in the area around 3:50 p.m. and may have captured video before fire crews arrived to come forward.

Investigators ask that any footage be submitted in its original, unedited form, without enhancements, so detectives can review the raw evidence.

Those who submit footage will remain anonymous and will only be contacted if detectives have follow-up questions.

But as of Monday morning, plans to knock down what remains of the warehouse are uncertain. Graves said that any demolition of the building would be “at the direction of the city building engineer,” and that the building’s owner — Stuart Lindquist, who also owns the building on the other side of downtown that houses U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — would foot the bill.

As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported last October, Lindquist proposed to transform Centennial Mills into three mid-rise, mixed-use buildings, with 272 residential units, retail spaces and a nightclub.

The Portland Design Commission approved that plan last year after nearly a decade and a half of efforts to get the property redeveloped by Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development agency.

Lindquist bought the property for $1.25 million in 2024.

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