Fire Destroys 3 Ore. Businesses

Mar 2, 2010 Source: Story by kptv.com

SALEM, Ore. --

A three-alarm fire gutted a Salem building Tuesday morning and destroyed three businesses.

Salem firefighters were called to Tanijguas Produce Market at 3352 Silverton Road Northeast at about 8:30 a.m. after a report of smoke in a building.

First-arriving crews reported a two-alarm fire and later called for a third alarm as a massive plume of smoke filled the air.

The blaze destroyed three businesses: a grocery store, a meat shop and a restaurant.

The roof of the building collapsed, but there were no reports of injuries. Firefighters were using two aerial trucks to combat the blaze.

"We lost all of our produce, everything. All of our savings -- it's our business," said grocery store owner Oliver Baniagua.

Rafeal Garcia, who owned the meat shop, recently moved to Oregon and also lost his savings in the fire.

"I just rented this place about a month and a half ago. We just moved from California. This is the only thing that I have," Garcia said.

Silverton Road, Beacon Road, Lansing Avenue and Hawthorne Avenue were all closed to allow crews to fight the fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown.