PORTLAND – A carpet-cleaning company’s van caught fire early Friday evening, sending a thick cloud of acrid-smelling smoke wafting over downtown.
The fire in the Octagon Cleaning and Restoration Co. van started around 6 p.m.
Additional Photos
Jason Nelson said he had just finished running lines for his equipment from the van to an office on the fourth floor of a Middle Street building and had been cleaning the carpet for about 15 minutes when his equipment failed.
He looked out and saw smoke coming from the van and went down a few steps until he saw flames. He then went back to the office and had another cleaning company employee call 911.
Nelson said the machinery is powered by a separate gasoline engine inside the van. He said he hadn’t had any recent problems with the van or the cleaning-equipment engine.
Within a few minutes, firefighters extinguished the fire in the van, which was parked in a lot behind the office building. The lot is off Exchange Street, between Temple and Middle Streets and next to the city’s Temple Street parking garage.
No one was injured in the fire. The van appeared to be a total loss.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.