PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
A day after a massive five-alarm fire destroyed an abandoned hotel on Hayden Island, fire crews were still putting out spot fires on the property as investigators prepared to start looking for the cause of the fire.
A fire spokesman told FOX 12 determining what started the fire could take days since investigators with both Portland fire and ATF have so much ground to cover. Arson has not been ruled out, according to the spokesman.
Damage to the property is estimated at more than $5 million. The fire started just before 3 a.m. Sunday at the vacant Thunderbird Hotel located at 1401 N. Hayden Island Dr. The fire quickly grew to five alarms. At one point, 20 fire engines and five fire trucks were on the scene.
Fire crews from around the area rushed in to keep the fire from spreading to nearby buildings, including a mobile home park right next to the hotel.
"Oh! I think we all would have lost all our residencies here," said Helen Alley, who has worried about the vacant hotel catching fire since she moved in.
The hotel closed in 2005 and firefighters said it was being used for storage.
"I always thought it was sad to see it sitting empty like this," said Tauni Sandy, who was among dozens of locals who stopped by the burned hotel Monday to look at the damage.
"To see it down is just devastating," said Dawn Coonrod, who said she worked as a hostess at the property in 1975.
"Andy Griffith was here one night," she recalled. "Different stars would come in. It was a very nice place."
Some residents who live nearby had expressed concern that the property had been vacant for so many years.
The building is surrounded by a chain-link fence, but neighbors said they have seen transients on the property before. It's unclear if any were living in the hotel at the time of the fire.
The property owner was unavailable for comment Monday.
No injuries were reported in the fire.
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