[NYPOST] An abandoned Portland tavern burned to the ground this week in a blaze sparked by squatters who had been harassing the crime-riddled community for more than a year.
Firefighters tried in vain Wednesday to beat back flames that consumed the former Farmer’s Barn Tavern in north Portland, which neighbor Dusty McCord said was "clearly a time bomb waiting to go off."
He said squatters have been menacing the neighborhood since they besieged the bar that closed in 2018, threatening residents with guns, sometimes physically attacking them — and frequently cutting down trees to make campfires.
Portland Fire and Rescue (PF&R) said this week was the eighth time they’d been called to the building to put out blazes.
When neighbors complained to the city, McCord said officials did nothing.
"The level of negligence is breathtaking," he told the Oregonian.
"For about the last 18 months, the building has been a complete nuisance with squatters, campers," neighbor Eric Marentette told KOIN 6.
"There’s been a lot of theft."
Since Farmer’s Barn Tavern shuttered, there have been at least four fire code enforcement cases at the property, according to the Oregonian.