It looked like a serious situation, and it could have been, with Albany police and the fire department deployed on the banks of the Willamette River and a drone flying overhead.
The two-story building with four apartments at Ferry Street and Fourth Avenue in downtown Albany has stood there for 76 years. A fire nearly destroyed it on the Fourth of July, but the owners say they will rebuild.
You can’t know how excellent a service the ambulance crews of the Albany Fire Department provide until you try it out. Twice in the last two weeks I had the unwelcome opportunity to do just that.
Part of the Pacific Boulevard overpass in Albany looks different these days: It has been cleared of most of the vegetation that made the place a fire danger in dry years, as it did last summer.
This unseasonal display caught my eye on a ride through Albany’s Bryant Park on Wednesday. The sunshine was deceptive. The temperature was in the 50s, not bad for the middle of November, but not exactly river recreation weather either.
This was not, it is safe to assume, a case of spontaneous combustion. I came across what was left of a trash can on the Dave Clark Riverfront Path on Wednesday afternoon.
What happened here? A fire on June 10
The hill on the south side of the Pacific Boulevard overpass bears the obvious traces of a recent fire. I could not help noticing this on Monday when I rode on the pathway between Albany Station and Swanson Park.
Tags: Albany Fire Department, fire, hillside fire, June 10 fire, Pacific overpass, Pacific viaduct, railroad underpass