SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 18, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City Fire Department crews fought a two-alarm blaze that broke out in an abandoned house in the early hours of Monday morning and they expect to remain on scene through the night.
The house is in close proximity to the AutoZone at 55 N. 900 West and was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived at about 12:20 a.m.
Within minutes, the roof and walls of the structure collapsed, SLCFD Capt. Tony Stowe said.
Stowe said a second alarm was called as soon as the first firefighters arrived because it was obvious from the smoke and flames that this boarded-up and abandoned building would not be extinguished quickly.
Another abandoned house is near the one that burned, so crews were also making sure that the fire was contained to the one that ultimately was destroyed.
Stowe told Gephardt Daily there were no reports of injuries to firefighters or civilians and, although crews were unable to go inside, officials do not think anyone was in the structure at the time of the fire.
One of the challenges confronting fire crews was the electricity that was still active in the building. Rocky Mountain Power was called and shut the electricity down.
Capt. Stowe said the fire department expects to be on scene for several hours and probably through the rest of the night.
“The bulk of the fire is out,” he said, “but with the building collapsing on itself, there are still a lot of hot spots under all the debris.”
He said the cause of the blaze is currently unknown, and may never be known, because the building was a complete loss.
