SALEM, Ore. — Early Sunday morning, customers inside the Lucky Fortune Restaurant & Lounge in Salem heard someone yell, “Fire!” When they went outside, flames were rising from the back of the building on Lancaster Drive Northeast.
“We ran out back and I grabbed a fire extinguisher,” said a customer named Jesse. “I tried to put it out but obviously it got too big.”
According to investigators, the fire broke out just after 1 a.m. As crews attacked the flames, the restaurant’s roof caved in. No one was hurt.
“I'm not sure what we can do right now, I just got off the phone with insurance,” said restaurant manager, Yongping Li. Li said his family purchased the restaurant less than a year ago.
“I hope everything turns out good and glad that everyone’s safe," he said.
On Sunday, police arrested 28-year-old Leonardo Hernandez-Cruz in connection with the restaurant fire and two other fires set in the same area. According to court documents, Hernandez-Cruz has been charged with two counts of first-degree arson and one count of second-degree arson.
The charging documents accuse Hernandez-Cruz of setting fires both at Lucky Fortune and outside a set of apartment buildings on Sunnyview Road Northeast.
Police said an alert officer on patrol detained Hernandez-Cruz after recognizing him from surveillance video captured during a dumpster fire at a nearby BottleDrop Redemption Center.
On Monday, Dec. 12, firefighters responded to another Salem business fire at Lighthouse Home Loans on Wallace Drive Northwest.
Security cameras caught someone reaching into a locked dumpster area and lighting cardboard on fire. It happened around 5:30 a.m. Minutes later, the video shows flames climbing up the side of the building. Investigators said it was too soon to conclude if that fire was connected to the fires set Sunday on Lancaster Drive.
Anyone with information about the fire at Lighthouse Home Loans was asked to call the Salem Police Department’s tips line at 503-588-8477.