A fire that charred several cars and a carport at the home of a city councilor in Portland, Ore., early Sunday morning is being investigated as a possible arson, the police said.
The councilor, Candace Avalos, said she woke up to find that her car, carport and home were engulfed in flames, but she was able to get out safely with her cat, Valentino. The Portland police said the cause of the fire, which was reported at 2:40 a.m., had not been determined, but it was “considered suspicious in nature.” No arrests have been made.
Investigators said on Monday afternoon that they had not found evidence that an accelerant or an incendiary device had been used in the fire, which did not appear to have specifically targeted Ms. Avalos.
The blaze appeared to have started in a storage shed next to Ms. Avalos’s home, according to the authorities, who said they were actively working to identify who was responsible.
The fire came during an extraordinarily tense time for elected officials and public figures who have been confronting a rise in political violence in recent years.
In September, Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist, was fatally shot at a college in Utah, and in June, Melissa Hortman, a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota, was killed along with her husband inside her home. In April, an arsonist firebombed the Pennsylvania governor’s residence as Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept upstairs, and last year, President Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.
Ms. Avalos was elected in November and took office in January. The daughter of Black American and Guatemalan parents, she said she was among a group of activists who received racist threats in the mail in 2020, when they were calling for police accountability after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Ms. Avalos has also been outspoken in criticizing Mr. Trump’s crackdown on immigration and his push to deploy the National Guard in Oregon.
Earlier this month, the Portland City Council unanimously adopted a resolution Ms. Avalos introduced with other councilors that denounced Mr. Trump’s efforts to send National Guard troops and federal immigration agents to Portland and that called on the mayor to fight back.
“I have been receiving threats for many years for being a vocal advocate for justice,” Ms. Avalos said in a brief interview on Monday. While she said she didn’t know of any specific threats connected to the fire, she said: “I have always been at risk for something like this. So we will see what the outcome is.”
In a joint statement, the mayor of Portland, Keith Wilson, and the Portland City Council said they were “united in support of our colleague” and grateful for the quick response by the police and firefighters.
“We are working closely with Councilor Avalos to provide her with the resources and security she needs,” the statement said, adding that the investigation remained active.
Portland Fire and Rescue said it responded to a fire in the Mill Park neighborhood at 2:40 a.m. on Sunday and found several vehicles and a carport in flames.
Firefighters extinguished the fire, and no one was injured. Photos released by the Portland police show that at least one car was burned to a blackened husk. The police said that investigators had determined that the “vehicle of origin” belonged to Ms. Avalos.
In a statement on Instagram on Sunday, Ms. Avalos thanked people who had reached out to express their concern and said she was grateful that firefighters had responded quickly and stopped the flames from spreading.
“I’m being supported by my wonderful friends, neighbors and loved ones as I navigate what comes next,” she said.
Neil Vigdor contributed reporting.
Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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