Firefighters control large blaze at Salem Child Development Center in Grant, no injuries

Salem firefighters brought a two-alarm fire at a day care facility in the Grant neighborhood under control Monday morning. 

People working at the Salem Child Development Center building evacuated quickly and nobody was injured, Assistant Fire Chief Brian Carrara said. The fire was put out within 15 minutes of response. 

The fire was reported around 8:40 a.m. Monday at 1550 Fairgrounds Rd. N.E., according to dispatch records. More than a dozen fire vehicles were dispatched to the scene with 36 people responding, Carrara said.

Volunteers onsite said the day care was having a maintenance week and wasn’t open.

Keri Sloan was doing yard work on the site when the fire broke out. From across the development center’s parking lot, she watched smoke and then flames emerge from the top of the building. She made sure someone had called 911.

“It was crazy,” she said. Her items were still in the building, along with those of the other volunteers at the center that morning.

After the fire broke out, she was quickly on the phone with employees who were off-site in meetings that morning to inform them of the situation. She directed firefighters through the center’s parking lot.

Once firefighters arrived, she was back to work.

“I was trying to concentrate on doing maintenance, that’s what we were here for, and I knew that (the firefighters) had it covered,” Sloan said.

Elizabeth LaCroix lives just a couple of blocks from the center. She stepped outside, planning to go to the grocery store that morning, when she smelled the smoke and knew the fire must be nearby. 

“I wasn’t sure what was burning,” she said, but later stopped by the scene to make sure everything was OK.

“I’ve only lived in this neighborhood for less than a year, but I haven’t seen a major fire this close to my house,” she said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and it could take 10 or 15 days for a report to come back, according to Carrara. 

The day care organization is a nonprofit with 26 child care sites across Marion and Polk counties. Most are located at schools and provide before and after school care. 

The Fairgrounds Road location serves as the headquarters for one of the largest child care programs in Salem, offering day care and preschool for babies, toddlers, and young children. 

CORRECTION: This article was updated to fix Brian Carrara’s title. He is assistant fire chief, not deputy fire chief. Salem Reporter apologizes for the error.

Have a news tip? Contact reporter Mirandah Davis-Powell: [email protected] or 541-621-5176.

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