Boy, 8, Missing In Body Shop Fire

An 8-year-old boy was missing and feared dead in a four-alarm fire that destroyed a downtown autobody shop and damaged several other businesses early Wednesday.

Crews were still shoring up the structure Wednesday afternoon so they could enter and search for Walter “Morry” Bonsell III. The boy was believed to be with his father, Walter Bonsell II, who was apparently working late in the auto shop when the fire broke out.

The elder Bonsell, 47, suffered second-degree burns over 27 percent of his body. He was in critical condition at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The blaze was reported at 1:03 a.m. When firefighters arrived, the elder Bonsell was found outside his business, his feet and hands cut and burned. He was uncontrollable and shouting, “My son’s in there; my son’s in there. I’ve got to get my son.”

Kate Rademacher, the boy’s mother, said the boy and his father were trying to get a head start on the Veterans Day weekend.

“His dad was working late so they could go hunting Thursday after school,” Rademacher said.