Apartment at YMCA Evacuates Entire Structure

All portions of the YMCA were evacuated during the incident including the main YMCA, apartments and child care.

Photo of YMCA fire courtesy: Bill Holmstrom/Salem Fire

(SALEM, Ore.) - Salem firefighters knocked down an apartment fire that broke out this morning at the YMCA, located at 685 Court Street NE in Salem. Fire Department Spokesman Bill Holmstrom says the call of "Smoke in a Structure" came through at 8:22 AM.

"When firefighters arrived on scene, they had smoke coming from the second floor of this three story brick building. This portion of the YMCA is used for apartments."

Holmstrom says a second alarm was called at 8:25 AM bringing more firefighters and equipment to the scene. When firefighters entered the structure they first discovered fire in the stairwell, Holmstrom said.

"They were able to quickly extinguish this fire. The main portion of the fire was a chair that was inside the stairwell. They also discovered a small fire in apartment #28 which firefighters were able to extinguish before it spread."

Salem firefighters had the fire under control within 15-minutes of their arrival. All portions of the YMCA were evacuated during the incident including the main YMCA, apartments and child care.

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The occupant, Juan Leos, stated that when he came home his smoke detector was going off. He discovered a fire in the chair and used a portable fire extinguisher to try to extinguish it. He thought he had the fire out and he took the chair out into the stairwell where it reignited.

Holmstrom says two male occupants were treated by paramedics on the scene. One for smoke inhalation and the other for minor burns and smoke inhalation.

The loss from the fire is estimated at $20,000, including its $1,000 in contents. Salem Fire Investigators determined that the fire was started by a lit cigarette that had dropped into the chair and ignited while the occupant was gone.