Three people are dead after a small plane crashed into a house in Oregon on Saturday morning, authorities have said.
Earlier today, a twin Cessna 421C plane crashed into a row of townhouses near Troutdale Airport in Fairview, Oregon according to KPTV . The crash happened around 10:20 a.m. local time, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said.
Scott Lewis, the Fire Chief of Gresham, previously said two people were missing who were aboard the plane and one person was missing who lived in one of the houses. Authorities later said that three people had died.
Photos and videos published by KGW-TV in Portland showed one of the townhomes engulfed in flames while black smoke poured out of the adjoining houses. Lewis said the fire had spread to at least four of the homes, displacing up to six families. He said two people were treated at the scene, but he didn't describe the type or severity of injuries.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a twin-engine Cessna 421C, which it says went down around 10:30 a.m. near Troutdale Airport, about a 30-minute drive east of Portland.
As the plane went down, it knocked over a pole and power lines, causing a separate brush fire in a nearby field, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. The plane was split into multiple parts as it crashed in the residential area in the city of Fairview, which is home to about 10,000 people.
Lewis said the first call about the fire came from staff at the Troutdale Airport's control tower, who saw a thick plume of smoke rising in the air. But Lewis said that initial reports indicated "there was no mayday, no call for emergency" from the aircraft itself before it crashed.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash. The agency has sent two investigators to the site of the crash who will document the wreckage, spokesperson Peter Knudson said. He did not release further details about the crash.
The website for the Port of Portland, which oversees general aviation and marine operations in the Portland area, describes Troutdale Airport as a "flight training and recreational airport."
Air traffic control recordings show that the plane departed from Troutdale Airport and crashed around three minutes later. There is no word on how many people were aboard the plane or where it was going.
"The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate," said the Federal Aviation Administration in a statement.
In a statement shared with KATU , the Port of Portland said: "Port of Portland Fire has sent a crash vehicle and battalion chief for support at the scene, and the Gresham Fire Department is the agency in charge."
The Mirror has reached out to the Gresham Fire Department. As of 1:47 p.m. local time, over 22,000 homes had power outages in the immediate area, according to the Portland General Electric Outage map .
Eyewitnesses first reported the crash and fire on X, formally known as Twitter, Many people shared video and Ring Camera footage of the flames and plumes of smoke taking over the cloudless sky.
In the Ring Camera footage, a plume of smoke and a burst of fire can be seen slightly out of frame. This could possibly be the moment the plane hit the houses but nothing is confirmed yet.
The Gresham Fire, Portland Fire, Portland Airport Fire and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene. The twin Cessna 421C has room for one pilot and six passengers and can cost an average of more than $466,000.
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