On Tuesday, July 10, 2007 starting at 2:29 PM Salem Firefighters fought three separate fires.

The first fire came in at 2:29 PM at 2380 Lansing Avenue NE. Firefighters could see a large column of black smoke coming from the area. When firefighters arrived they had a fully involved outbuilding. Firefighters initiated an exterior attack, but were unable to save the building. A house next to the outbuilding also received minor damage. The cause of the fire is still under investigation at time of this release. The damage was estimated at $3,000. One firefighter was overcome by the heat and was treated by paramedics on the scene.

Less than 10 minutes later at 2:38 PM, Salem Firefighters responded to another fire at 1774 Evergreen Avenue NE. When firefighters arrived they discovered an exterior fire traveling up the side of this single-story duplex. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire before it was able to do a large amount of damage to the structure. 1774 Evergreen was vacant at the time of the fire, but the occupants at the attached duplex were being assisted by Red Cross due to smoke damage inside their home. No injuries were reported and the cause was determined to be an electrical malfunction. Damage was estimated to be $20,000.

Then just over an hour after the second fire, another house fire was reported at 3:29 PM at 2115 Lansing Street NE. When fire fighters arrived they discovered the roof on fire at this location. Firefighters accessed the roof via ladders and were able to contain the fire before it could spread to the inside of the structure. No injuries were reported. Damage was estimated at $10,000. The cause is under investigation, but investigators have not eliminated the possibility that hot ashes from the first fire blew on to the roof. The roof was covered by wood shingles which are extremely combustible in hot weather.  The outside temperature during these three incidents exceeded 100 degrees.