Fire at ethanol plant west of Portland prompts evacuations March 16, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail CORNELIUS, Ore. (AP) — Fire crews are battling a fire at an ethanol fuel facility west of Portland in Cornelius that has prompted evacuations, authorities said. The Cornelius Fire Department on Twitter at about 1:42 p.m. Tuesday called the fire “serious” and posted a photo of the blaze at a building and thick, black smoke above it. Fire officials then tweeted a map showing an area in which people needed to evacuate, which included a Walmart store, and said others should shelter in place. At about 2:45 p.m., Cornelius fire officials tweeted that crews were making a plan to attack the flames as safely as possible, adding that it would be a “long duration event.”