WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, June 5, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A residential fire overnight, at 6946 W. Bonnie Arlene Drive (3710 South), took the life of one woman and left the home a total loss.
West Valley City Battalion Chief Jeff Fox said the call came in just after 12:30 a.m. When firefighters arrived at the scene, “fire was blowing out the front windows,” and they received reports of someone trapped inside the home.
Fox said crews had the fire knocked down pretty quickly — within 10 or 15 minutes — and went inside to conduct a search.
“We found a person in the basement, who had been sleeping and didn’t really know about the fire,” Fox said. They got him out safely, he said.
The woman who died in the blaze was on the upper floor, and no information as to her identity is being released at the present time. No one else was injured in the fire.
The cause of the fire is still unknown. Investigators have been interviewing everyone they can to get as much information as possible, Fox said.
There was a considerable police presence at the scene, which Fox said is standard for any fire in which there is a fatality, in case something unforeseen comes up in the investigation.
“We have a little bit of history responding to this home,” he added.
Fox said it’s always difficult when fire crews don’t have all the information as to who may be inside a burning building or where in the building they may be.
“We knew from past responses to this home that a lot of people live there. We heard there were six total,” he said. “We assume there’s going to be someone inside, so we always do a real thorough search.”
The fire was mostly on the upper floor of the home, but there was a great deal of smoke damage throughout the structure. Fox described the building as “a total loss.”
