Salem fire chief to demolish collapsed building, but there's one obstacle prolonging the process

The roof of a 90 year old building on North Broadway and East State Street in Salem came down unexpectedly Sunday afternoon and since then, the fire department has been working to demolish the remainder of it.

A court order came down back in May to tear the building down, after numerous attempts to work with the building's owner.

"I had to go through the courts and we were not getting any cooperation with the building owner," Salem Fire Chief Scott Mason said. "We've had several buildings with those orders, it's just slow getting through the courts," he said.

In the meantime, the process was dragged out.

"He just wasn't taking responsibility for the building he had to be forced to do anything through the courts," Mason said.

As a result, Mason said the building collapsed due to dilapidation and a lack of maintenance. 21 News asked if there was a law in place requiring buildings to be checked for that kind of thing, regularly.

Mason said it's his responsibility.

"We do not have an actual ordinance. It's up to me as the fire chief to go through and issue orders to be torn down or demolished," Mason said. "We try to be proactive and catch it beforehand. If we do see a problem, we make the building owner get a structural engineer report (to see) if the building is good and not a danger to the public or other properties," he said.

If a building is a danger, a citation is written and the law director is notified so they can take action.

Mason tells 21 News he's working to get the building down Monday, but the problem with that is, there are businesses on the other side of the destruction hanging in the balance.

Mason said he'll have to work with a contractor to see if it's possible to get the rest of the building down without affecting those businesses.

"We're not sure exactly until they start tearing the walls out, how those buildings are going to respond," Mason said.

If demolition will affect the other businesses, Mason said he'll have to consult an engineering firm. As of this writing, the building is still standing.