Salem Apartment Fire Displaces Ten People

The Willamette Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross in Salem assisted 8 out of the 10 people who were misplaced from their homes. Holmstrom says 6 adults and 4 kids were affected.

Photos courtesy: Bill Holmstrom/Salem Fire Larger photos below story

(SALEM, Ore.) - An apartment fire in Salem burned out of control for almost twenty minutes today as firefighters were forced to cut into the siding to reach and extinguish the flames at 3353 Willow Court SE. Salem Fire Department Spokesman Bill Holmstrom says units were called out at 1:42 PM to this fire at the Clark Creek Apartments.

"Prior to 9-1-1 being called Ron Foster the tenant at 3357 Willow Ct SE had started a fire in the fire place around 1:00 PM," Holmstrom said.

He explained that the man's upstairs neighbor, Virginia Herrera, notice smoke coming out her stove vent. She called 9-1-1 and had her family evacuate.

"When firefighters arrived on scene they had smoke pouring out of the west side of this two-story four-unit apartment building. A second alarm was called at 1:48 PM bringing more fire fighters and equipment to the scene."

Holmstrom says firefighters had to cut into the siding to reach the fire.

"Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire after the siding had been removed. It took fire fighters 18-minutes to have the fire under control. All but one apartment unit was occupied. No one was injured. None of the occupants had renters insurance."

The Willamette Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross assisted 8 out of the 10 people who were misplaced from their homes. Holmstrom says 6 adults and 4 kids were affected. If you want to help these unfortunate people, please email ‎Margaret Sanner at the Red Cross in Salem.

Investigators say the cause of the fire was attributed to heat damaged wood studs which reached ignition temperature when the fire was started in the fire place today.

The loss is estimated at $130,000, $100,000 Structure & $30,000 in Contents.

The photos below were taken by Salem Fire Department Public Information Officer Bill Holmstrom: