Fire damaged a portion of the Village Garden Restaurant on West Main Street in Salem early Sunday morning.
Salem Fire Marshal Bill Fulton says a passing Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy first saw flames along the roofline.
“When we got there, we had flames showing from the northeast corner of the roof area of the restaurant. We put our aerial up and used the master stream to knock the initial fire down and then other crews went up after we had the initial fire knocked down and mopped it up with handlines.”
Fulton says a hole did burn down to one wall of the kitchen of the restaurant. However, he reports just minimal smoke damage in the restaurant but considerable water damage from the firefighting efforts on the roof. Fulton says there will have to be considerable repairs completed before the restaurant can reopen.
The State Fire Marshal’s office was called in to help investigate the cause, but no final determination has been made. Fulton reports there is heavy damage around one of the heating and air conditioning units that is being studied as well as a possible electrical issue.
Salem received mutual aid assistance on the scene from Mt. Vernon City, Kell, Odin, and Kinmundy-Alma Firemen, with Iuka and Sandoval standing by at the Salem Fire Station in the event of another fire.
The fire alarm came in at 1:39 Sunday morning. Firemen remained on the scene until 5:30 Sunday morning.
Damage to the northeast side roof of the Village Garden Restaurant in Salem is visible Sunday morning. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
