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Police find no foul play in deaths of two found in Friday fire investigation

The Salem Fire Department (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)

Salem police detectives determined no foul play or criminal act was involved in the deaths of two people and a dog found in a west Salem home following a fire Friday morning.

The Salem Police Department said Monday afternoon that it completed its investigation into the fire, according to a news release.

Greg Walsh, emergency manager for the city of Salem, said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Aaron Richard Harris, age 33, and Taylor Alyssa Wallace, age 25, were found dead the home, where they were living when the fire occurred.

The fire was reported around 7:55 a.m. Friday in the 1100 block of 8th Street Northwest, where witnesses said they saw smoke coming from a single-story home. Firefighters quickly contained and extinguished a “small fire” inside the home, the news release said.

Harris and Wallace were pronounced dead at the scene during a fire investigation, the release said.

Three dogs were also found – one inside the home that died, and two outside the home that survived and are being cared for by neighbors.

-Ardeshir Tabrizian