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Update, 4 pm Sunday, Sept. 11: Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the Mount Tabor fires, according to Portland Fire & Rescue. The bureau said the suspects are likely responsible for “several dozen” intentional fires. According to Multnomah County Detention Center booking records, the three suspects—Wayne Chen, Samuel Perkins and Malik Hares—are all 18 years old.
The original story below was first published Sept. 10.
For close to two weeks, people walking on Mount Tabor have encountered the burn scars of dozens of small fires started on the slopes of the Southeast Portland summit. The Tabor Neighborhood Association reported that upwards of 30 fires were started—an especially alarming threat with the dry, hot and windy conditions Portland finds itself in.
But fire investigators told 100 residents of the Tabor neighborhood last night over an emergency Zoom call that they, along with the Portland Police Bureau, made contact with a suspect and say the danger is mitigated, at least for now.
Lt. Jason Andersen, a senior arson investigator for Portland Fire & Rescue, declined to share additional details due to the ongoing investigation, including whether investigators believed the arsons were a solo or group endeavor, but he said he believed the “behavior should be curbed at the moment.”
He called it one of the more complex investigations the fire bureau has had to undertake in “recent history.” That’s because Mount Tabor is vast: an extinct volcanic cone covering 191 acres. It also sports—for better and\ sometimes for worse—dozens of easy entrance points. The park is also heavily wooded, helping to hide possible arsonists from suspicious eyes.
The fires set in the park combine two potent issues: Portlanders’ fears of lawlessness in a city where police struggle to keep pace with crime, and the growing danger of urban forest fires as the climate changes.
Over the past two weeks, some neighbors took matters into their own hands. They formed unofficial park patrols to watch for flames. Andersen said the neighbors’ crowdsourcing of information “led us and gave us enough tips so that we had enough circumstantial evidence to identify suspects.”
The parks bureau has increased its patrol presence at night and throughout the day, and has a backup patrol response at the ready. “We’re taking away from other parts of the city,” parks security and emergency manager Vicente Harrison told neighbors at the meeting.
Another corollary concern neighbors brought up to city officials: unpermitted, large-scale events in the park. Some, apparently, sophisticated enough to feature a DJ.
“We’re running into groups of people, upwards of 50 or 100, and it’s a crowd control situation for us,” Harrison said, explaining that crowds often don’t heed directives from park rangers to leave. “The police have not really wanted to take any additional steps if there’s not any violence taking place, or if they’re not hostile.”
