Report details of truck crash that caused 30-acre Turner fire

A large brush fire that burned over two dozen acres in southeast Salem last month started after a truck ran into telephone wires nearby, a fire marshal investigation confirmed.

The crash started a fire that burned at least 30 acres of former prison farmland and destroyed three abandoned barns.

The investigation, conducted by Salem Deputy Fire Marshal Justin Guinan, shows the details of how the crash on Steele Lane caused the fire which started farther down Southeast Gath and Turner Roads.

The fire destroyed $1 million in property, the report concluded.

READ IT: Salem fire investigative report

Crews were first dispatched to the scene around 1:45 p.m. July 9. A large plume of smoke could be seen in the sky above southeast Salem, with shades of dark gray and green climbing well above the flames.

It took firefighters around four hours to get the blaze under control amid hot weather and wind pushing the fire closer to Turner. They spent the night mopping up the farmland and watching for flare ups, Assistant Salem Fire Chief Brian Carrara told Salem Reporter at the time.

The fire evacuated residents in the area and further south in Turner. One Salem firefighter was injured early during the fire and stayed overnight at Salem Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, Carrara previously said.

Guinan’s report confirms what witnesses and officials said from the scene.

A truck crashed into communication wires in the area, sending “excessive” ripples through the wires, which caused a fuse failure north on Gath Road, the report said.

The failure melted metal at the fuse site, which fell into the dry field, starting the fire, Guinan wrote.

One woman told Salem Reporter that after hearing a large boom and losing power at her home on Steele Lane, she saw a semi-truck tangled in low-hanging wires in front of her driveway.

The fire started near the intersection of Southeast Gath and Turner Roads and spread south through dry grass until igniting three abandoned barns, Guinan’s investigation found. Guinan marked the cause as an electrical fire.

The land used to be run as a farm by Oregon Correction Enterprises and the now-closed Mill Creek Correctional Facility, which shuttered in 2021. The land was later sold.

Although the land had been left to itself for several years, the old barns were still in use for cattle ranching.

Sean Blackburn of Herron Crossing LLC, the company which owns the land, previously told Salem Reporter he had tenants on the property running a cattle ranch operation.

Guinan’s report noted that firefighters found cattle in one of the barns. The report didn’t mention whether cattle were evacuated, but one witness described hearing radio dispatch of firefighters helping cows get to safety.

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Turner Fire burns 30 acres of former prison farmland

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