Cause undetermined on fire that did $2 million in damage to vacant east Salem Shari’s
A fire that seriously damaged the shuttered Shari’s restaurant in southeast Salem last month started outside the building, but investigators couldn’t conclusively determine what caused it.
The blaze could have been started by people throwing used cigarettes into bushes outside the building, or started deliberately by one of the people living in RVs around the structure, Salem Deputy Fire Marshal Sara Roth concluded in an Aug. 14 report.
She ruled out electrical issues or natural causes.
Firefighters responded to the restaurant at 1270 Lancaster Dr. S.E. just after 3 a.m. July 21 and found the south side of the building with heavy fire and smoke, the report said.
It took 21 firefighters and seven fire vehicles to get the fire under control. Roth’s report estimated the damage at $2 million.
The report noted the area was surrounded by “lots of trash and RV trailers.” Multiple firefighters described seeing unsheltered people living in the area towing RVs or moving vehicles away from the fire as they arrived on scene, according to incident reports.
Investigators interviewed several people living in RVs near the restaurant.
One gestured to a couch that had been on the restaurant’s south side and suggested it “could have been someone smoking I suppose” that started the blaze.
Other witnesses said one resident of the area had threatened to burn another person’s trailer. There’s no indication in the report that investigators located the man who allegedly made the threat.
“There is evidence of a previous fire, but no record of a fire department response. There are records of multiple responses for barkdust fires, brush fires and trash fires near this address going back to 2017,” Roth wrote.
Shari’s announced in October 2024 it was closing all Oregon locations. The property is owned by a Happy Valley man, according to the report.
A sushi restaurant had just leased the property several days prior to the fire but didn’t yet have keys, the report said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
Old Shari’s in east Salem damaged by early Monday morning fire
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
