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.
