Portland family terrorized by fires set by homeless squatters next door: ‘My wife was screaming’

A family in southeast Portland is expressing exasperation over homeless squatters cycling through an abandoned property next door and causing mayhem for the last five years.

“There are fires that have been happening off and on,” Jacob Adams told Fox 12 Oregon this week about the homeless encampment on a property that runs alongside his family’s.

“Major ones. This recent one actually came and set our property on fire.”

Jacob and his wife Beth told the outlet that the fires have been a problem for five years and the last one ignited propane tanks and had his wife “screaming” as they were igniting.

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In addition to the fires, the Adams family says they have had to deal with drug use, fights, graffiti, and theft from people on the property who have been served eviction notices to no avail. 

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

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Armand Martens, an 83-year-old Vietnam veteran who also lives next to the property, told Fox 12 Oregon that he “felt safer when I was walking around in downtown Saigon when I was in Vietnam than I do here in Portland.”

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

Both Martens and Adams say they love Portland but fear they might have to leave if things don’t improve.

A spokesperson for the Portland Police Department told Fox News Digital that he is unfamiliar with the specific address of the Fox 12 Oregon report but “can say generally that we have to work within the bounds of the law and we cannot arrest someone for trespassing unless the property owner or someone in charge of the property is involved.”

“When we have derelict properties like this one, there are other city rules that can be used to address code violations through the Bureau of Development Services,” the spokesperson said.