The Salem Fire Protection District received two calls within seven minutes of each other Sunday night. Fortunately, a report of a house fire was confined to a flue and a restaurant fire was actually a half-dozen vehicles spinning tires and throwing up smoke in front of it.
Salem Assistant Fire Chief Bill Fulton says the first call was to the Sam Ray home at 125 Hardacre Road off Route 37 on the north side of Salem where a passerby saw smoke coming from the residence. The problem turned out to be a fire in the flue that was quickly put out. Firemen then used a fan to clear the home of a minor amount of smoke.
The second call was to Five Brothers Café on West Main at Selmaville Road where a passerby saw what they believed to be smoke coming from the restaurant. When firemen arrived, they found about a half dozen vehicles in front of the restaurant apparently doing burnouts causing smoke to rise in front of the building. While mutual aid was immediately called due to the potential fire, it was quickly canceled when firemen determined what was taking place.
Both the calls came in during the eight pm hour on Sunday.
