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Fire Breaks out in Port of Portland Grain Elevator by Kristina Brenneman KGW.com, January 20, 2006

A fire broke out Friday afternoon in the seventh floor of a grain elevator operated by Cereal Foods, located at the Port of Portland's Terminal 4 on North Lombard Street.

Smoke can be seen rising from a grain elevator, far left, operated by Cereal Foods at the Port of Portland's Terminal 4.

The first call to the Portland Fire Bureau came at 1:51 p.m., and a second alarm at 2:16 p.m., said Fire Bureau spokesman Dave Centers.

The fire started inside the hopper, where the company processes grain, and eventually turned into smoke, he said.

Centers said the main concern in fighting such a fire is grain dust getting stirred up in the air because the right mixture can be explosive.

The cause of the fire is uncertain. No other structures were harmed.