Portland squatters terrorize neighbors, nearly set home on fire

An Oregon family armed with their own fire extinguishers had to repeatedly save their home from fires after homeless squatters set a nextdoor house ablaze twice in one day.

Jacob Adams said he jumped into action as flames from both infernos threatened to leap over to their Portland property in the latest in a string of terrifying experiences since squatters took over the neighboring structure five years earlier.

“There are fires that have been happening off and on. Major ones. This recent one actually came and set our property on fire,” Adams told Fox 12.

“Within 12 hours of that fire, another fire popped up. My wife was screaming, and propane tanks were igniting off from the fire.”

Surveillance footage of the alarming incident shows Adams using fire extinguishers to fend off the inferno from jumping over the fence between the two properties as his wife, Beth, cries in the background.

He told the outlet he’s since bought several more extinguishers in the likely event he needs to save his home again.

Portland has been dealing with a long-lasting homeless problem. There are over 6,600 homeless people in Portland across more than 700 encampments in the city.

Although the city’s Mayor Ted Wheeler announced in October plans to ban the camps, the tent cities have largely remained undisturbed by city officials, including police.

The lax enforcement has allowed squatters to take over homes like the one next door to Adams, despite being served multiple eviction notices.

Adams said over the past five years he’s reported multiple thefts — including one culprit who he caught stalking off their property with their firewood — drug usage and physical fights inside the rapidly deteriorating home, but to no avail.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve talked to police, because people are screaming, or someone is overdosing,” he said.

“It’s just countless, countless first responders’ calls. We all have to love our neighbor no matter who they are. But at the point when they start setting your place on fire it becomes a little more difficult.”

Another neighbor, 83-year-old veteran Armand Martens, told Fox that the squatters have destroyed the neighborhood to the point where he fears for his safety.

“I felt safer when I was walking around in downtown Saigon when I was in Vietnam than I do here in Portland,” he said.

Martens said he’s had to take matters into his own hands as his illegal neighbors have repeatedly hooked up a hose to his water.

He’s also made repeated complaints to city leaders, but fears his concerns are falling on deaf ears.

“It seems like all of the stuff they’re doing is enabling the homeless people,” Martens said.